Facility Kronos
by Theodore Hawkwood
Summary: When raiding a COBRA base somewhere in the Atlantic, a group of Xmen and Misfits find themselves stranded in the Incredibles' world and trapped between two warring sides and the Heartless...
1. Sheena Island

Sheena Island

Disclaimer: I do not own the Incredibles or Kingdom Hearts. The characters of Xi and Althea Delgado, as well as the sisters known as Trinity and their baby brother Claudius belong to Red Witch. I was watching Eurotrip when I wrote part of this story, can't you tell.

Summary: When raiding a COBRA base somewhere in the Atlantic, a group of X-men and Misfits find themselves stranded in the Incredibles' world and trapped between two warring sides and the Heartless...

---

0200 Hours: The cold, forbidding ocean air bit into the exposed face of Mikhail Greigarovich as he surveyed the distant island. The deck of the trawler below his feet rocked and pitched with the waves. The thick coat and warm clothing he wore provided some comfort, as did the coffee now pooling in his midsection. Within half an hour the captain and crew would abandon their vessel, leaving it to drift on the waves.

There was only one thing to do now. To await the signal. "Comrade Major…" came a voice.

Without turning around, Griegarovich knew that was the voice of Senior Lieutenant Valery Michkin. The lieutenant handed him a folded piece of paper. Greigarovich unfolded the paper, scanning the one word message: 'Decapitation'.

The big Russian bear of a man turned towards Michkin, "Tell the men to get ready, and prepare the charges, I want to give the enemy a surprise when he searches this 'derelict' boat."

"Yes Comrade Major." Michkin replied, the smaller man from the Kamchatka Peninsula walked below decks into a storm of activity.

Already the NCOs and sergeants were moving amongst the other sailors who were readying weapons, food, fuel, ordnance, and communication equipment for departure. Two working parties were already heading to the weather deck, to start unrolling the two large Zodiac inflatable rafts which would carry them to shore.

Two enlisted men were carrying the outboard motors that would power these Zodiacs towards the distant coastline. A sailor walked past Michkin with a muttered greeting, carrying several AK-74 assault rifles slung on his shoulders.

An officer saluted him and said, "Comrade Michkin, the men are ready to deploy."

"Good Comrade Andropov. In twenty minutes assemble on the main deck and deploy the boats." Michkin ordered.

"We have already rigged the trawler to explode, as the Major instructed." Junior Lieutenant Nikolai Andropov, one of the two most junior officers of Naval Spetsnaz detachment 3-G-14.

"Our primary objective is to neutralize the coastal command and control facility." Michkin replied, "Once it is disabled, the approaches to Metroville's Eastern Coast will be open for the Landing Force. We must take the Island swiftly and with violence. We cannot allow them to contact the mainland and alert Metroville Central Command and allow them to fire Omnidroids into the Motherland."

"Yes Comrade." Andropov replied.

"We give our lives for the Motherland." Michkin intoned.

"For the Motherland." Andropov replied.

Michkin left to go back on deck as the waves tossed the trawler about it. Andropov took in the sight of the troops he would serve alongside. They were the elite among the elite of the Soviet Union's armed forces. They were athletes of Olympic caliber, runners, swimmers, champion weight lifters, wrestlers, boxers, marksmen, and track and field athletes. They had visited west of the 'Iron Curtain' at least once in their careers, when Olympic games were held. At least half of them had visited Metroville in that capacity before. Now that knowledge would be put to use.

Grenades, ammunition, water, rations, and the radios were passed out among the _spetsnazmen _before they went topside. The inflated Zodiacs were now lowered into the water, supplies already stocked onboard them.

Two rope ladders were dropped over each side of the trawler as the commandoes lowered themselves into the boats. As soon as the last man was about to disembark, he set the timer for the explosive charges in the hold and around the fuel tanks. The two boats glided across the waves and through the sheets of rain...

---

Private Kyle Green scowled as he pulled the hood of his rain poncho tighter. The damn rain was falling in sheets, it was fucking cold outside, and the wind was cutting through his field gray uniform. There was no way in hell the Russians would come in this weather. If anything else they'd come across the land border, they didn't have a Navy worth a damn according to Billy, a fellow soldier on this godforsaken rock of an island about as appealing as Alcatraz. He had no idea how wrong he was and that he would not be around long enough to learn from his mistake.

From behind him two figures wearing rebreather rigs and masks rose silently from the surf zone while his back was turned. One of them reached behind his back and flung something in Green's direction.

Spinning through the air was an entrenching spade. Fifty centimeters long, with a wooden handle and a solid steel rectangular blade, it spiraled end over end, whatever sound it would have made masked by wind and rain. The spade's head was 15 centimeters wide and 18 centimeters long, each of three edges sharp as a knife. It spun inexorably toward the space between Private Green's shoulder blades.

_When the hell is Matt coming over here to relieve me? I've been out here for six hours now, Matt's taking his own sweet time..._Green thought a millisecond before the spade bit into his spinal column.

Green's legs jerked out from underneath him as he collapsed to his knees gasping. His fall continued down onto the wet sand. By the time blood flowed and his legs bucked on the sand Green's mind was almost entirely dead, but his body hadn't entirely accepted the fact. His eyes sent one final image to his dying brain, a single Russian soldier running noiselessly across the sand, his Kalashnikov automatic at the ready, stopping only to pull his spade from Green's shoulder blades.

Yuri Valenki signaled by lighting his flashlight with one short flash and two long flashes, the international Morse signal for 'W'. Before the Zodiacs even beached the Russian soldiers disembarked into hip deep water, running ashore, weapons aimed inland while others hid the boats inside a derelict boat house.

---

The Coastal Command and Control facility was a compound surrounded by a twelve foot high electrified fence with coils of concertina wire on top. Armed sentries and crew served weapons protected the most vulnerable points, with concrete pillboxes and attendant machineguns protecting its two entrance gates. The base commander, Colonel Berwick had often said that his base was invulnerable to infiltration and assault.

This dark and stormy night, a unit of the Russian Naval Spetsnaz commandoes were closing silently and swiftly on their position. Running noiselessly just below the crest of a nearby hill ran part of Spetsnaz detachment 3-G-14.

The men dropped to the ground, aiming their weapons at the facility before firing barbed projectiles with ropes attached from shotguns into the highest buildings of the compound. Meanwhile a supply truck wound down the road towards the main gate. The driver and his passenger were both other members of 3-G-14, because the truck had been stopped and the driver and passenger disposed of.

Snipers with telescopic night sights on their Dragunov SVD rifles were already focusing their crosshairs on heads and hearts of sentries on the perimeter.

Private First Class Will Gordon stopped the supply truck as it headed towards the entry point. "State your business." He asked of the driver.

"Delivering parts for the heating system." The driver said with a clipped tone.

Gordon turned to his supervisor, who nodded and he let the vehicle pass, "Stay dry." Gordon replied.

PFC Gordon did not realize he had just let in a truck that contained fifteen_ spetsnaz _infiltrators. It would be the last mistake of his life.

On the taut ropes from the hill nearest the base a dozen _spetsnazmen _slid down towards the compound...

Sergeant Rack looked up from the patrol report he had been reading to rest his eyes, as he did by force of habit. _I'll be needing granny glasses before I'm twenty-five. _The sergeant thought.

"Squinting already sarge." Private Dan Bailey said.

_Damn kid. Always been a wise-ass, snide little prick since he came here. _Rack thought irritably.

"Getting old?" Dan Bailey taunted.

Sergeant Rack grumbled and looked back at his reports, seeing the letters blur a little before looking up again. He looked up just in time to see a shadowy figure in a camouflage pattern he recognized as Russian. He barely had time to register the sight before the booted feet of the Russian commando struck him in the chest.

Private Bailey reached for his sidearm and had it half out before the Russian commando raised an assault shotgun and fired a single round into his chest, propelling the unruly nineteen year old out of a glass window, causing him to fall three stories to his death. Had the private not been killed by the burst of buckshot, he would doubtlessly been killed by the fall.

PFC Gordon heard glass breaking behind him. He turned to look and thus carried out the last action of his life. A single 7.62 rimmed bullet tore into his head, just below the brow of his black helmet, splattering blood, bone fragments, and brain into the back of the piece of headgear.

Gordon's supervisor turned to look for the threat a half second before a second bullet tore into his throat. Before the machine gunner in the pillbox could get to the weapon a third bullet tore through his head.

Corporal Dunlop heard the cracks that sounded distinctly like gunfire from the front gate. He turned in time to see PFC Gordon slump dead to the ground. A hand jerked his head back and a second hand slashed a knife across his throat and he fell down the stairwell, his neck spurting blood as he gurgled his last breaths.

From below the stairwell, a trio of _spetsnazmen _armed with AK-74s and a silenced AKM-47 rushed up the stairs to secure the control tower. A guard standing around the corner heard the thud just in time to be struck under the chin by an AK-74 swung by a _spetsnazman _that came low underneath his line of sight from behind a stack of barrels.

Meanwhile Private Bart Stevens turned towards his partner, Private Josh Hill. "Sucks to pull duty in the rain."

"Yeah, I hear what you mean." Hill replied.

From behind a concrete post Sergeant Igor Voronezh raised his P6 silenced pistol. He came out from behind the post, weapon at the ready and snapped off a single shot at Hill, drilling him through the throat.

Bart Stevens reached for his own sidearm as the hulking, bearded Russian soldier, face smeared with black face paint, turned towards him, leveling the silenced pistol. The sound of Bart Stevens' death was barely louder than a BB gun. Voronezh fired a single round that drilled Stevens right below the nose. Bart was dead long before he hit the ground. Voronezh kept scanning for more enemy troops, while quietly admiring his handiwork. Having won the Gold medal in the rapid fire meter pistol competition at the Olympics years before, two fifteen meter rapid fire shots were a non-issue.

Colonel Berwick heard the rapping on his door. He opened the door just in time to see the bespectacled Lieutenant Stewart, a 9mm sidearm in hand, and a half dozen security troops.

"Sir, the Russians have entered the base. They've already captured the control tower, the pillboxes and have just penetrated the magazine." Stewart replied.

"What? How?" Berwick began.

"Security is decimated. They managed to wipe out almost all of us on the above ground levels." Stewart replied.

Gunfire could be heard several rooms away as the surviving guards were engaged in scattered gunfights with the Russians.

"We're taking you to the escape tunnel sir." Stewart began, half dragging the Colonel out of the room and towards the escape tunnels.

Stewart got the Colonel into the escape tunnel around the same time the Russians broke into the Colonel's quarters. He could hear the guards trying to fight against the _spetsnazmen_ outside. Bursts of gunfire were only interrupted by shooters reloading, and screams of those that were being killed.

"We'd better get to the city." Berwick began, "And try and organize resistance."

More shooting with occasional screams could be heard upstairs. "Let them keep trying to fight the Russians. We'll get to the city."

"Yes sir." Stewart replied.

---

Meanwhile a dimension away, on an Army base in the middle of the Utah desert a group of elite soldiers and former members of the Brotherhood were intermingling with the Incredibles, a family of superheroes from the dimension the Russians were currently at war with Metroville.

"Oh gross." Pietro said, squealing like a little girl, "Tell me when it's over."

"Pietro, if I recall correctly this is the fifth or sixth time you've watched the Amsterdam scene of Europtrip." Lance quipped.

"Safeword...safeword..." Cooper said on the screen.

"You'd almost think Quickie here wanted to go to Club Vandersexx..." Dash remarked, "Wow, Pietro's going to get a Quickie at Vandersexx...Kinky, ew..."

"NO!" Pietro protested, "I just want to see how Jamie of all characters got lucky in Amsterdam! We are going to Europe after all."

"No, you wanted to find out where you can find Club Vandersexx." Dash replied, "Pietro is a fruit!"

"QUIET!" Pietro shouted.

"ON ON VANDERSEXX!" Dash laughed.

"DIE!" Pietro shouted as he launched himself after Dash.

"HEE HEE HEE!" Dash laughed as he ran away.

"ON ON VANDERSEXX!" Dash laughed again, "PIETRO LIKES DUTCH MEN IN LEATHER APRONS!"

"DIE YOU LITTLE RUGRAT!" Pietro shouted.

"EVERYBODY KNOWS! EVERYBODY KNOWS!" Dash sang and shouted, "THAT PIETRO LIKES DUTCHMEN IN LEATHER APRONS!"

"Wow Pietro," Lance quipped, "I never imagined you'd come out like this."

"WHY YOU!" Pietro shouted.

"ON ON VANDERSEXX!" Dash shouted.

"I always knew you had some weird tastes Pietro, but this is beyond the pale." Toad joined in the teasing.

"Dash stop being so immature!" Violet shouted.

"Pietro parked his Ferrari..." Dash began.

"Well, squirt," Pietro said, screeching to a halt and leaving several fires burning in the house in his wake, "I admit you have your redeeming features..."

"At CLUB VANDERSEXX!" Dash shouted.

Right about that moment Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl walked into the room. Had there been no muscle in his jaw, his lower jaw would have clattered to the floor.

"Dashiell Robert Parr..." Elastigirl began slowly.

"PARR HA HA HA HAR!" The Pirates shouted.

"QUIET!" Elastigirl shouted.

"Dash, what did you just say?" Helen Parr said, icily.

"Uhm, eh he he..." Dash began.

"Someone's in trouble." Violet sniped.

"Shut up!" Dash replied.

"What did you say, Dash?" Helen asked.

"Uh, well, I said Bandicoot..." Dash said, with sweat beading on his face and a nervous expression.

"No it sounded like something different, Dash..." Helen replied in a low, dangerous tone.

"Uhm, Vandersexx." Dash said, trying to say it quickly.

"Say it slower, Dash..." Helen warned.

"Uh, Van-der-sexx..." Dash said.

Jack Jack, sitting in his bouncy chair in the middle of all this uttered a single word amidst his gurgling and cooing, "Van van..."

"See what you've done to your brother." Helen replied.

Bob's face darkened. "What?" Shipwreck said, "All the kid said was Van van..."

"This time he said Van van, for all we know he could belt out the last syllable any second. I don't want the first word out of my kid's mouth to be the name of some cheesy bondage club." Bob replied.

"Sorry." Shipwreck said.

"Sorry for what?" Bluey Truscott began as he walked into the room.

Bob gave the Australian ACME operative a cold stare, "_You'll _be sorry you were born, Aussie."

"What?" Bluey replied, "Oh Bollocks."

Bluey turned just as a hand stretched from across the room and grabbed his shoulder. Heleb began slowly, "Ahem, Mr. Truscott, we've put up with a lot since you relocated us to this world. Namely we've put up with an ongoing feud between two rival mutant groups with enough immaturity to rival a daycare center filled with hyperactive cranky preschoolers. We've faced with perpetually intoxicated and insane pirates on booty calls in San Francisco and Bayville, but the fact that my ten year old has now began saying filthy words from the movie Eurotrip is the...STRAW THAT DID NOT BREAK, BUT SHATTERED THE CAMEL'S BACK!"

"And I thought Piper was bad in full bitch mode." Shipwreck remarked.

Helen turned towards Shipwreck, "And it seems all trouble is connected to you, Mister..."

"Heh heh, I'm guilty until proven innocent..." Shipwreck said with a grin.

"You two are in some serious trouble..." Elastigirl began.

"You've been hanging around Cover Girl too long, haven't you." Shipwreck began.

"What do you have to say for yourselves?" Elastigirl demanded.

"Uhm, On on Vandersexx..." Shipwreck said, with a nervous grin.

"Wrong answer..." Helen began dangerously.

Much later: "Shipwreck, if we ever get down from this ceiling I have one thing in mind..." Bluey began. Both men were currently suspended by their ankles from the ceiling.

"What's that?" Shipwreck said.

"I'm going to kill you." Truscott replied, "With me bare hands."

"Shut up." Shipwreck replied.

"I wasn't the one who decided to utter 'On on Vandersexx', mate." Bluey replied.

"I wasn't the one who relocated the Incredibles to this world." Shipwreck replied.

"We didn't know Syndrome had this world targeted." Bluey replied.

"And you call yourself intelligence." Shipwreck quipped.

"And you call yourself a responsible adult." Bluey snapped back.

---

"Woo woo woo woo woo." Klondike wooed.

"Courtney, could you do me a huge favor and keep an eye on Klondike for today?" Ted asked.

Cover Girl looked up from putting dishes away. "I'm sorry Ted, I've got a stack of essays from the class to grade, not to mention Motorpool stuff and…"

"I'll give you a hand." Ted replied.

"Ted, I hate to say this, but you're one heck of an undercover expert, riot policeman, and rock climber but you're no gearhead…" Cover Girl replied.

"No, not like that at all. I'm talking about tests and essay grading. I'll take that as soon as I got back." Ted replied.

"Didn't you and Paige already have a date last night?" Cover Girl asked.

"Not that." Ted replied, "It's that new canyon Avalanche made last week when sleepwalking, the one in the shape of a coyote, I want to take my mountain bike and rappelling gear out there and explore it."

"I don't know…" Cover Girl said.

"I'll throw in teaching your classes for the next week." Ted replied.

"You really want to explore this canyon, don't you?" Cover Girl replied.

"Heck, I saw some really neat cliff faces and a couple wicked rappelling sites." Ted replied, "Alpine and I mapped it earlier last week. We've got a longer trip planned later, for both of us to look through it, but…"

"You and Alpine have been having a mini-competition to see how many of Lance's sleepterraformings you two can be first to explore or climb. One more thing, how are you going to justify disappearing all day to explore a canyon?" Cover Girl asked.

"Easy," Ted replied, "I'm exploring more broken terrain training sites for the team."

"Ted, just try not to make insanely hard climbing routes next time. Having Blob nearly land on you is no fun." Cover Girl replied.

"So you're saying that's a yes?" Ted asked.

"You owe me." Cover Girl replied.

"For the chance to be the first to enter Coyote Canyon, I'll gladly pay it." Ted replied, hefting his IDF pack and putting his sunglasses on.

"Woo woo woo woo woo." Klondike began.

"You'd better be on your best behavior, boy." Cover Girl replied.

"Woo woo…" Klondike said, a veritable halo forming around his head.

"I'm not quite sure I believe you." Cover Girl began.

"Corporal…" came the sound of Captain Atkins' voice.

_Of all the uptight, snobbish people I've met…_Cover Girl thought.

"Where is Mountaineer, or Ted, or whatever ridiculous names you have for each other in this asylum?" Julie demanded and then said, "Ah, there's the other half of the guilty party."

"Woo woo woo woo woo." Klondike began with a 'Who me?' look.

"I know exactly what you're up to, you good for nothing, gray furred, wooing monstrosity." Julie replied, "And what you did last night, hand it over…"

"Woo woo woo woo woo."

"Hand what over, exactly." Cover Girl replied.

"A certain personal garment…" Atkins remarked frostily.

"You mean this." Cover Girl remarked, as she took a bra from underneath the sink.

Atkins' face took on a scarlet hue. "You mangy mongrel…"

"Watch it!" Cover Girl snapped.

"You're defending that cur?" Atkins remarked.

"He's just a dog." Cover Girl said, "He doesn't know any better. And besides Mountaineer's been taking him to Mutt to try and get him some obedience lessons."

"If you go through my stuff one more time, I'm selling you to the nearest Chinese restaurant." Atkins remarked.

"Talk about stooping levels. Threatening a dog…" Cover Girl quipped.

"That's insubordination, soldier." Atkins said, "Disrespect me like that again and expect to be written up."

"Woo woo woo woo woo!" Klondike barked, standing between Cover Girl and Atkins.

Atkins stalked off and Cover Girl dropped to one knee and began to pet Klondike, who was delighted by the affection and started to lick her face.

"Yuck…Well at least I can say that I have been kissed by one man this month." Cover Girl quipped.

"Woo woo woo woo." Klondike began.

"Sorry, I don't think the movie theater would allow me to take you inside with me on Saturday night." Cover Girl said, wryly, "Although you don't complain about what I choose to watch."

"Woo woo woo…" Klondike commiserated.

"You do eat off my plate, though." Cover Girl joked, "That's a down stroke against you."

"Woo woo woo woo…"

"And despite being on the destructive side, you can be endearing." Cover Girl smiled as she scratched Klondike behind the ears, "Let's not forget you're not entirely clueless unlike some men I know…"

"Woo woo?"

"As in Cooper." Cover Girl replied, "I've done everything except jump into his bed in the middle of the night and he doesn't have a clue…"

"Taco…Grande…" Shipwreck sang, as he walked by with a now gurgling Claudius in his arms, about five minutes ago the baby had been wailing at the top of his tiny lungs.

"And you're not a complete scoundrel and a drunk, with a redeeming heart of gold." Cover Girl replied.

"Woo woo?"

"Like Hector." Cover Girl replied, "I mean he's brash, but he's brave. He's generous but he's a maniac. He's a wonderful Dad, but he is also the greatest troublemaker anyone has ever known. And he's interested, at least. Great, if I keep this up I'm going to start another love triangle in the tradition of Kitty Pryde."

"Woo woo woo woo." Klondike said, as he stretched his forepaws out, his rump in the air and his tail wagging mightily.

Cover Girl grabbed a nearby Frisbee before heading outside to play with the eagerly wooing Sibe.

---

Emily Kinnian crouched deeper into the ventilation duct, as deep as she could possibly hide in the church office. She could hear footsteps outside in the main chapel. Voices. Prayers. A sobbing woman.

Half an hour ago a crowd of terrified civilians and a few Metroville soldiers ducked inside the church prompted by the sound of gunfire and fighting. Gunfire and fighting echoed from the movie theater next door. _Great job, Fielder. _Emily thought, _Thinking of a rendezvous here in the church. Next thing I know the Russians will crash through the stained glass windows and turn this place into a bloodbath. Or I get turned into a Heartless, either way, nice job. _

Several months ago, when Syndrome took power in Metroville, Emily had been part of a three member observation cell that had been sent here by ACME to monitor what was going on. Alan Fielder was the team leader, an ex-big game hunter she remembered. _What about Frank? I hope he had enough sense to stay the hell away from the church…_

The sound of an explosion as breaching charges were used on the heavy church door echoed. Shooting. Screaming.

"Down! Everybody down!" A heavily accented voice sounded.

"_Davai bistre_!" Another voice shouted. 'Hurry up'.

The door of the church office flew open and a Metroville soldier with a pistol in one hand and a radio in the other was babbling words.

"Alpha Charlie, this is Holy Relic. The Russians are in the church. Repeat, the Russians are…"

The door flew open again and two Russian soldiers burst into the room and raked the soldier with full automatic fire from their AK-74 assault rifles. The soldier shook violently as he died before he hit the ground, spurting blood from dozens of wounds.

One of the soldiers covered his partner as the first searched the office. Just then her mobile phone started to go off. Emily reached into her pocket frantically, feeling like her hand was a mass of thumbs and jelly, pawing at the volume buttons and backing into the vent as deep as she could possibly go.

From the duct cover she could see the two Russians freeze, looking around, muzzles of weapons following arcs of view. The muzzle of one rifle flagged the duct cover. _If he lets loose with that thing, I'm gonna die. I've got a few inches of aluminum, max, protecting me right now. _Emily thought.

_There's no identifiable equipment in there. _Emily thought. For months she had been working out of the church, operating the laptop computer and transponder that enabled her to communicate with ACME's remote listening stations and ACME HQ itself.

The two Russian soldiers continued their search, when one of them called out. He unzipped a bag behind the potted plant next to the file cabinet. Emily didn't speak Russian, but she knew this wasn't good. _Hmm, from the outside it looks like a piece of shit, but inside is a high speed modem and CPU. Let's just hope the Russkies think it's a piece of shit and don't find the transmitter…_

---

"Damn." Alan Fielder grumbled under his breath. The shooting and smoke told him the Russians had hit the nearby town faster than he anticipated. He knew they were an advanced element, the _spetsnazmen _were securing the island as a base of operations for the Landing Force he knew was somewhere offshore.

_Emily and Frank are still in there. _Fielder thought, forgetting the cold and wind that bit into his GorTex outer coat and fleece jacket. He had seen the tail end of the Russian attack on the Command and Control facility on Sheena Island and saw them head to the town in stolen vehicles or on foot.

_Frank has enough sense not to transmit, especially if the Russians have direction finding equipment. _Fielder thought. Frank had the satellite phone and transmission for direct voice communication to ACME, using code for weekly reports. Emily would use the laptop to send daily computer reports. Their cover stories were airtight. A corporate nondescript and a choir singer at the local church were Frank and Emily's respective legends that would bypass a cursory inspection.

Fielder tucked the cell phone into his GorTex. He hadn't been able to raise either Emily or Frank despite trying for almost an hour to tell them the Russians were heading straight for the town. That meant one of two things. Either both were dead, captured (which in _spetsnaz _hands was as good as death), injured, or their phones were off. _I've got to see for myself. _Fielder thought, resolutely, as he headed towards the town, woefully aware that the nearest thing to a weapon he had was a Leatherman multitool on the belt of his jeans.

_I've got to try anyway. Emily and Frank are not only co-workers, but they're my friends and I'll be damned if I at least don't know that they're alright…_Fielder thought as he crept towards the town, towards the sound of gunfire and fighting…

---

TBC


	2. All Aboard

All Aboard 

Disclaimer: Same as before…

---

"Damn, how long am I on light duty?" Mountaineer grumbled.

"At least a week. I really want to make sure your ankle is rested." Lifeline began.

"Woo woo woo woo woo..." Klondike wooed.

"Did you have to bring him in here?" Lifeline asked.

"Sibes can and do outwit security systems all the time." Ted replied.

"Woo woo woo woo woo." Klondike wooed.

"So, how did this happen again?" Lifeline asked.

"Well, I made it the twelve miles to Coyote Canyon, chained my bike off to a nearby scrub tree, tied my climbing rope off to a nearby rocky outcropping, put my climbing harness and helmet on, and then rappeled into the canyon. I stowed my rope and carabiners in my backpack with my climbing harness, hiked about seven miles through the canyon and found another drop, at the nose called 'The Nostril'. I anchored the rope and put my harness on and rappeled down this other unexplored part of the canyon. I was distracted by these very interesting bas reliefs Lance shaped into the walls of that part of the canyon." Ted replied.

"And what were these bas reliefs of?" Lifeline asked.

"Let's just say..." Ted began.

"OW! OW! OW! OW! OW!" Lance shouted.

"LANCE HOW COULD YOU?" Kitty shouted.

"KITTY! OW! MERCY! TAKE IT EASY" Lance's screams could be heard echoing outside the infirmary.

"LANCE! MAKING SCULPTURES OF ME IN NAKED OR NEAR NAKED POSES IS NOT SOMETHING I TAKE EASILY!" Kitty shouted.

"Oh, that's what was in there." Lifeline replied.

"I remember thinking that if Kitty ever saw those, or any of the X-men..." Ted replied.

"I think that's a bit too late? I think I've got more patients en route." Lifeline said, "So continue, what happened next?"

"I rappeled a little too quickly, and hit the canyon hard. Owing to the thirty pounds of stuff in my backpack it was a hard landing. I climbed out, got to my bike, pedaled back to base and checked in here." Ted replied, "And apparently Trinity got a hold of my digital camera and broadcast all the pictures and video camera out to the X-men, who happened to be visiting..."

"And they e-mailed or texted the pictures and videos to every X-man or Misfit?" Lifeline asked.

"Exactly." Ted replied.

"So you fell, staring at those bas reliefs..." Lifeline began.

"They were incredibly lifelike." Ted replied.

"Then you broke your right foot. Climbed out of the canyon by a thin trail..." Lifeline began.

"It wasn't as thin as the Snake Path on Masada, which can accommodate two men, shoulder to shoulder at the widest." Ted replied.

"Whatever." Lifeline replied, with uncharacteristic annoyance, "Then you climbed up to your bike, unlocked it, and pedaled twelve miles back to the pit on a broken foot, carrying forty pounds of gear and water."

"Exactly." Ted replied.

"Mountaineer, you basically broke your foot because of ego. You wanted to beat Alpine in exploring the latest geological feature Avalanche created with his powers." Lifeline said.

"Your powers helped." Ted replied.

"Thank Dragonfly for that." Lifeline replied.

Ted's right foot was wrapped in Dragonfly's healing webs, "Thanks Dragonfly."

"And thanks Cover Girl." Ted added.

"Woo woo woo woo woo."

"Klondike, you were riding in the jeep with Cover Girl when she gave me a ride to the Infirmary, that doesn't count." Ted replied.

"Woo woo woo woo woo."

"Thanks for keeping an eye on this guy." Ted winced.

"You're welcome." Cover Girl replied, "He and I actually had a good time."

Klondike sat up and licked Cover Girl's hand as she petted him, scratching behind the ears as well.

"Got boys drooling all over you as usual, eh Courtney?" Lifeline laughed.

"Woo woo woo." Klondike wooed, coming between Lifeline and Cover Girl.

"It looks like there's a third eligible bachelor contending for the runway model's heart." Ted remarked.

"Woo woo." Klondike wooed, heading over to Ted's bedside and tugging on his sleeve.

"What is it boy?" Ted asked as he sat up.

"Woo woo woo woo woo." Klondike headed over to Ted's backpack and started to drag it with his mouth towards the bedside.

"Sorry boy, I ate everything that I packed in there on the way back from Coyote Canyon." Ted replied.

"Woo woo woo woo woo." Klondike began, as if to say, 'That's not the point.'

Ted heard the buzzing sound just then, "Damn it! That must be Paige..."

"Woo woo woo!" Klondike replied.

"Quiet you!" Ted replied.

"Woo woo woo woo woo!"

Cover Girl laughed and handed Ted his cell phone. "Hi Paige. I know what day it is. It's our six month anniversary..." Ted began.

Klondike let out an almost laughter-like chortling sound. "Quiet you!" Ted began, "No, not you sweetheart."

"Aw..." Cover Girl remarked. _I wish I had what Ted has with Paige. _

"It depends on what Lifeline says." Ted replied.

After about a three minute pause, interrupted by repeated, "I'm OK" and "I'm still alive" comments, Ted continued, "I had a little rappeling accident."

"How long?" Ted asked.

"You'll be able to walk in a couple hours, but stay off that foot as much as possible." Lifeline replied.

"I'll be about fifteen minutes late." Ted said into the phone, "I just am supposed to stay off my foot for a week."

"Yeah, dinner sounds good...I'll see you in a couple hours, honey. I love you. Bye." Ted replied.

---

"So, how is your production of the Serum coming along?" Syndrome asked Cobra Commander.

"It would be going better if I didn't have the Misfits attacking my production lines all the time." Cobra Commander replied.

"Somebody isn't doing a good job of security." Graydon Creed sniped, "What, somebody can't handle a bunch of mutant teenagers?"

Barillo laughed, despite the fact that his face ached, courtesy of a botched plastic surgery job.

"Yes, I do note that the supply of the Serum is somewhat interrupted by those pesky Misfit raids. And that the FOH aren't providing a good enough distraction." Syndrome replied.

"Those were some of my best operatives in San Francisco that were killed or captured." Creed bristled.

"What of the Orlando operation?" Syndrome asked.

"It's being organized. We'll have Congressman Shale soon enough." Creed replied, "If certain people wouldn't screw things up."

"You can't blame the lion's share of this on me." Cobra Commander replied.

"I don't." Creed replied, "I blame the majority of this on you. What about the weapons you promised?"

"They'll come soon enough." Cobra Commander replied.

"And what of the potency?" Syndrome asked, "To change the subject."

"The Serum is potent, especially if the subjects are bombarded with certain doses of radiation, it can create different variations of Heartless." Dr. Mindbender began, "And some of these variants are especially fast and effective, taking effect in a matter of hours and overcoming the subject's will to succumb to Darkness."

A vulture's gleam shone in Mindbender's eyes, "Yes, and of even greater benefit. If a person with a strong heart succumbs to the Darkness, a second creature is created. A malformed, twisted grayish humanoid of great dexterity and strength. This was discovered at the main facility."

"Where are your main facilities located?" Syndrome asked.

"We have three main labs. One of which we already lost to G.I. Joe many years ago called Moreauseau, the second is just off the Azores, and the third is off the coast of Costa Rica." Cobra Commander replied.

"I think the facility that is least productive of the two is expendable." Syndrome replied.

"Wait just one moment." Cobra Commander replied, "You're not saying I sacrifice a multibillion dollar facility to..."

"The cost is well worth the benefit." Syndrome replied, "I have some technology that will remove the Misfits from the playing field, leaving you gentlemen to carve up the world for yourselves."

"I'm listening." Cobra Commander replied, "And Mindbender, which lab was this discovery you mentioned located?"

"The Costa Rica facility." Mindbender replied.

"Tell our people to maintain a skeleton crew at the Azores facility, but still keep carrying out the tests." Cobra Commander replied, "We'll remove the Misfit menace once and for all."

The other villains began to depart from the auditorium and as the soundproof doors closed, Syndrome let out a hollow laugh.

"Fools." Syndrome laughed, "It was so easy to get them to agree. They were seduced by the baubles of my inventions. They think they are so clever as to distribute the Serum throughout this world with their networks of smuggling and trafficking. They think they're so clever as to discover the Nobodies. They think they are kings, but in all reality they are but pawns..."

The black robed figure appeared before Syndrome, "Do not forget to give credit where credit is due, Buddy Pine."

"I haven't gone by that name in years." Syndrome replied, "Sixteen years to be exact."

"It was we who saved you from the grisly fate that you should have had." The robed figure said, "And it was we who gave you power to control the Heartless. Do not forget that we could just as easily revoke it. The shield around your heart will be taken away, and the Heartless would have yet another heart to feed upon."

"This world will have plenty of hearts for you to harvest." Syndrome replied, "I am upholding my part of the bargain, and dealing with those smug and insufferable fools."

"I must admire your clever plan to send the Misfits to Metroville, right into the middle of the Soviet invasion of your world." A second robed figure began, as it appeared from nowhere, "But this is an awful lot to take revenge on one man."

"Not one man. All those people who mocked me, cursed me, spit on me, broke my inventions...Well now they're under my rule. Those that bullied Buddy Pine when he was a boy, now quiver with fear under the rule of Syndrome!" Syndrome replied, "If they don't fear me, I make them disappear, and I have managed to provoke the Russians into a war with Metroville. The Soviet distrust of Metroville, and me, has played another world into your capable hands."

"Very good, Syndrome." The first robed figure began, "Just remember to give credit where credit is due..."

The robed figures disappeared, leaving Syndrome standing alone in the auditorium.

---

"What drives you to do these things again?" Paige asked.

"I let my ego get in the way." Ted replied, "Alpine and I have had this rivalry for months as to who can explore or climb Lance's sleep terraforming experiments."

"Men..." Paige grumbled.

"Excuse me." Ted replied.

"I'm just saying that seems to be an issue with you." Paige replied, "You guys as a whole seem to be ruled by egos..."

"Paige, it's part of what has driven the human spirit for centuries." Ted chimed in, "Remember Yuri Gagarin, the first Soviet Cosmonaut's words: 'The Earth is the cradle of the mind, but one cannot stay in the cradle forever.'? Or the guy who climbed Everest without any oxygen, and came down nearly dead?"

"Weren't you paying attention to the 'nearly dead' part of that sentence?" Paige asked.

"Of course I was." Ted replied, "It's the human spirit of exploration that drives me to do things like that. And not just me, others as well. The ancient Phoenicians explorers who explored the Mediterranean..."

"...Let's not forget Hernan Cortez." Paige countered.

"That was a slightly different situation. Cortez was driven by greed, I was driven by a desire to explore that canyon." Ted replied.

"Exploration has also caused its share of problems to, genocides, exploitation..." Paige began, "But that's a bit too grim of a subject for dinner. We haven't been able to go out like this for a long time."

"And it's been unusually peaceful for a long time." Ted replied.

"True. I haven't heard of a single Pirate related incident or FOH beating in a month..." Ted replied.

"The former is because Hawk practically twisted Jack Sparrow's arm into counseling with Psyche Out and it seems to be working."

"Yo ho! Yo ho! A Pirate's life for me!" The song echoed as a cable car drove down the road, with Jack Sparrow and the Pirates, and Psyche Out in it. Psyche Out was wearing an eyepatch and a pirate hat and waved a cutlass around.

"You were saying?" Paige replied.

Just then Ted's cell phone rang. Ted answered it, and his face fell.

"Oh no," Paige groaned, "not again."

Ted kissed her lips quickly and clutched her hand with both of his, with a look that conveyed everything he had to say, before he teleported back to the Pit via the Mass Device.

"This is the fifth date with Ted that's been interrupted." Paige replied, "All I need now is..."

Paige felt that familiar jingle that said that there was something wrong at the Magic School. Paige headed for the women's bathroom before orbing out.

---

"So what's the emergency?" Mountaineer asked as he took his seat.

"An island rumored to be similar to Moreauseau was recently discovered near the Azores." Julie Atkins began, as she walked across the stage, to the rustling of her blue Air Force uniform skirt.

At this Roadblock felt his blood run cold, as he remembered the sight of the inmates of Dr. Mindbender's twisted playground. Children younger than Toad when Roadblock had first found him, children with missing limbs. A girl with an eye hanging grotesquely from her head like some weird stalk. A teenager whose breath came in rattling gasps through the hole in his trachea. A vivisected set of twin girls, still alive and in terrible pain...

"When are we attacking it?" Roadblock asked.

"And how?" Shipwreck added.

"By sea obviously." Roadblock answered.

Cover Girl groaned, "I hate water..."

"The sea air is good for you. I'm living proof of that." Shipwreck said.

"Even worse..." Cover Girl replied.

"We will board a passenger liner, the _Sovreignty_, registered out of Southampton." Julie began, "And we will use two captured COBRA attack speedboats to infiltrate the island."

"We want in on this mission." The X-men said.

"How did you know about this?" Julie replied.

"The same way anyone knows anything about anything that goes on in this asylum." Bobby quipped, "Trinity e-mailed Jamie, Jamie told a couple people, those couple people..."

"We get the picture, Iceman. But you can't go on this mission because it spoils our plan."

"I disagree." Xavier began, "This issue of Mindbender and experimentation affects us all."

"Marvin," Cover Girl began, "I agree with Xavier. And tactically, who knows what genetic experimental monsters Mindbender's cooked up to face us this time."

"Still, it's..."

"I'm aware of your concerns, Mr. Hinton, but I have put together a team of our strongest students to face Cobra." Xavier began.

"So you're proposing a joint operation with us?" Shipwreck replied.

"Yes." Xavier said.

"Hey baby," Shipwreck said, to Storm, "Maybe after this op we can go hit up the Azores on a vacation for two?"

ZZAAAP

"Don't take it as an insult to your famous way with women, Shipwreck." Cover Girl said.

"Hawk wouldn't approve of this operation." Roadblock began.

"Actually he already has approved of our presence. For diplomatic reasons." Xavier began.

Roadblock nodded, despite his disagreement with Hawk's idea, and the briefing continued.

"So where am I during all this?" Multiple asked.

"Sorry kid, you're nowhere near any of this." Wolverine replied.

"What?" Multiple asked, feeling slighted, "I'm the reason you guys know about all this to begin with."

"That doesn't mean your going, squirt." Wolverine replied, "Now we've got some mission planning to do."

Multiple felt sad, and mad. He knew about this island, and knew he was the only reason the X-men even knew about it. Everyone was scrambling around, either attending briefings, preparing equipment, or other things. There was an unmarked shipping crate nearby...

---

Alan Fielder flung himself into a ditch and hoped that the thick reeds would hide him from view. He saw a squad of Russian _spetsnazmen _patrolling from down the road. Where the hell did they come from? The Command and Control station? Maybe.

_No, that wouldn't be smart. They'd want troops there. If a reaction unit was going to go anywhere, they'd want to get to the C2 facility. And the Russians want the intel there, so they wouldn't abandon it. Reinforcements? But from where? _Fielder thought.

As the Russians passed by the ditch they peered inside. There wasn't any flashlight use, but the patrol was using a road, so they were obviously somewhat confident about their control of this area.

He checked at his mobile phone when the convoy passed. One new text message. He read it. It was from HQ. Singer was trying to urge him to get the hell out of here. _Not without Frank and Emily_Fielder thought.

He headed towards the town, and when he was sure he had cover he tried to call Emily. After three rings he hung up. He punched up Frank's number next. No answer. _Damn it. Could they be dead? Or captured? In any case Singer wants me to get the hell out of here with whatever intel I have. I know damn well I'm not abandoning my teammates. To hell with Singer's orders. _Fielder thought.

The idea was insane. Going straight into the middle of the town of Sheena, the major settled area on the island, which was a hotbed of fighting between the Soviets and Metroville Defense Force personnel was practically suicide. He could hear heavy small arms fire, and the explosion of the more than occasional grenade. But he had to try.

---

Frank Corelli barely felt the rain drenching him on the roof of the library. He had been on his way to the church to rendezvous with Emily and Alan, but the Soviets had hit the town with a lot of force. A small knot of Metroville soldiers had tried to stall the _spetsnaz _at the diner down the street. It barely slowed the Russians down at all, they smashed into the diner, the rounds from their Kalashnikovs tearing the windows apart. Swiftly they smashed doors down and sprayed automatic fire into rooms before they ran inside.

He had remained hidden on the roof of the library as the Soviets crashed out the back door. Three Metroville Police deputies fired their weapons at the attacking Russians, hitting one soldier in the midsection. The Soviet soldiers took their revenge instantaneously and loosed a murderous volley of gunfire at the Metroville cops, shredding them to ribbons with automatic fire.

More shooting came from the library below him. Horrified, yet unable to tear his eyes away, Frank took the mini-binoculars from his pocket and watched as the Russians converged on the library from three different directions.

_Where the hell is Emily? Did she make it? Is she at the church? _The questions raced through Frank's head. _Oh God, the Russians just went into the church five minutes ago. Is she alright? _

Frank fingered the gold engagement band on his right hand. He hoped his _fiancee _had survived the Russian assault on the church. _Brilliant idea, Fielder, arrange a rendezvous in the town right when the Russians are going into the place. _

If the Russians found the satellite phone, he was very likely screwed. Especially if the Russians captured him alive, either the _spetsnaz_ would interrogate him, or they'd turn him over to their GRU masters. _The GRU, the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate, one of the most ruthless military intelligence arms in history. Especially if they find out I'm part of ACME, they'll want to know the C5 teleporation system's secrets, and that I was a former C5 tech... _

The Russians had already surrounded the building. From nearby rooftops and upstairs windows in the church, movie theater and diner Soviet snipers with telescopic sights zeroed on heads and hearts opened fire, killing anyone careless enough to stand too close to windows. Frank could see assault teams stacking outside of the library's front door, rear door, and the basement doors. Almost simultaneously the Russians used breaching charges to blow open the doors, tossing hand grenades into the open areas and firing bursts of automatic fire from their Kalashnikov rifles before entering.

Frank could tell that some of Metroville's defenders were still alive in the library, because they attempted to fight back, throwing grenades out of windows or down staircases, or shooting from behind barricaded rooms. These gestures would be instantly followed by grenades from the Soviet invaders and long bursts of gunfire.

_I'm on the roof. If I run down the stairs I might as well commit suicide, if the Metroville defenders or the Heartless down there don't kill me, the Russians will. _Frank thought. _Two stories down to the alley below. I'll survive it, but I'd probably be paralyzed by the jump. _

The sounds of fighting directly below his feet caused an awful thought to cross Frank's mind. _I'm fucked either way. _Frank edged his way to the roof, looking down into the alley he saw a dumpster. _Talk about being trashed..._Frank thought as he jumped down from the roof and landed atop several bags filled with garbage.

Frank climbed out of the dumpster just in time to see a Shadow Heartless directly in front of him. "Oh God! Oh Jesus! Oh God! Oh Jesus!" Frank groaned in terror. He backed up until he felt something brush up against him, he whipped around to see another Shadow standing there.

He was unarmed, there was nothing to use as a weapon, there was...A piece of steel pipe. Frank picked it up off the ground and swung it at the Heartless, connecting with one rather solidly. "Back! Get back!" Frank shouted as he backed up.

CRACK! The impact from behind, to the back of the head came suddenly and Frank felt the world go black as he passed out. Standing behind him was a fellow in the gray uniform of Syndrome's Metroville Army. He called the two Heartless away from the unconscious man, before dragging him down the manhole cover he had climbed out of...

---

Is Frank OK? Emilythought_, The Russians already stormed past the diner and theater towards the last place I remember talking to him. I hope they don't find the dead letter box. _The dead letter box was the place where the three ACME operatives would exchange messages or coordinate meetings if things looked too dangerous to actually meet in person. The operatives' dead letter boxes were hidden in plain sight, an innocuous potted plant, the inside of an abandoned tire, the bottom of a park bench.

EmilythoughtThe dead letter box was the place where the three ACME operatives would exchange messages or coordinate meetings if things looked too dangerous to actually meet in person. The operatives' dead letter boxes were hidden in plain sight, an innocuous potted plant, the inside of an abandoned tire, the bottom of a park bench. 

Emily had left a message for Frank at one of the dead letter boxes before she headed to the church. She hoped that the Russians weren't going to find it.

She could see Russian soldiers moving in and out of the church. They had already proned out the civilians and searched each one from head to toe before the herded them back into the main chapel.

_Great, how am I going to get **out **of this church. _Emily thought. It wasn't as if she'd designed or knew anything about the ventilation systems that cooled or heated (depending on the season) this particular church.

Not to mention Russians are now occupying the church and are searching it from top to bottom. Emily replied. _I'm screwed if I stay here, I'm triple screwed if I try and get out of this building. A classic Catch-22. _

Emily really had no choice. She crawled away from the sounds of movement below. Her jeans were getting incredibly dusty as she continued to crawl in a direction that she hoped would lead her outside. She climbed down, putting her feet gently onto the desk, wishing her shoes weren't hard soled. Her heart was hammering, hoping there weren't Russians stacked outside the door, ready to break it down and break inside. A file beneath her right foot caused her to slip and nearly hit the floor with a crash.

Emily replied. Emily really had no choice. She crawled away from the sounds of movement below. Her jeans were getting incredibly dusty as she continued to crawl in a direction that she hoped would lead her outside. She climbed down, putting her feet gently onto the desk, wishing her shoes weren't hard soled. Her heart was hammering, hoping there weren't Russians stacked outside the door, ready to break it down and break inside. A file beneath her right foot caused her to slip and nearly hit the floor with a crash. 

She caught herself on a file cabinet and stepped down from the desk. She went to see what had caused her to almost fall. She opened the file, which turned out to be the Preacher's diary.

**October 7th **

A meeting was held today, here in the chapel for all leaders in the town. Here, the island's commander, Dr. Lydexter, warned us of the likelihood of Soviet use of biological or chemical weaponry. A directive from Syndrome himself said that a vaccine known simply as Serum 1A, or simply the Serum, would be issued out to the town's people. Lydexter broke out a case containing faintly luminous green fluid in syringes. We injected ourselves with the needles at the end of the meeting and thereafter were told we would receive daily doses.

October 9th

I felt slightly faint last night at services, and almost passed out from a tightness in my chest. I called Dr. Lydexter at the main laboratory on Sheena Island, and was surprised that the good doctor himself answered. I was expecting an underling or someone similar to answer the phone. Dr. Lydexter explained that the chest contractions are an unavoidable yet harmless side effect. But if it protects me from death from Soviet chemical weapons...

October 10th

I overheard some soldiers in the chapel . They've been trading rumors about the likelihood of Soviet attacks. Some say that the Soviets will come on the 25th of October, on the anniversary of the October Revolution. Some say that these chemical weapons are, for lack of better words, bull excrement. They believe the Russians won't go anywhere near Sheena Island, and if they do, they'll likely try something sneaky and underhanded...

_Reverend Galswells was certainly right about a couple things, the Russians would do something sneaky and underhanded and they attacked on the 25th, which it is right now. _Emily thought as she peeked at her watch. Dawn was less than three hours away, and the Russians had likely destroyed the Command and Control Facility and were now fighting their way into the town.

The shooting upstairs had since stopped, and Emily got her bearings, she was in the basement of the church. Because of her cover legend she knew that the there was a door into a back alley. She snuck down the narrow wooden hallway, hoping the soles of her shoes wouldn't make any loose boards creak. She ran out into the raining morning, narrowly missing a group of Russian soldiers heading towards the sound of gunfire further up town..._Frank, please get out of there..._Emily thought.

---

The world was blurry and indistinct for Frank Corelli as he felt consciousness returning. The most pressing feeling was the sharp pain in the back of his head where he assumed some ruffian with a rifle stock had struck him.

"He's awake, sir." came a voice.

Frank noticed a soldier in the gray uniform of Syndrome's forces. _Oh shit._ Frank thought as adrenaline speeded his wakeful state. He tried to sit up, but felt the rattling of handcuffs holding his hands behind his back.

Standing in front of him were the soldier, a couple civilians carrying rifles, and a bespectacled blonde haired man with round wireframed glasses, wearing a gray uniform with a holstered pistol.

"Ah, _Privet tovarich..." _The bespectacled officer said, "Lieutenant Stewart, Metroville Defense Forces."

"Wha-?" Frank began.

The soldier standing closest to him kicked him in the right ankle. Frank winced.

"Your buddies certainly made a mess of the C2 facility." Stewart began.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Frank replied.

"Well, how else would the _spetsnaz_ have known to have taken down our facility so quickly and brutally." Stewart replied.

"Hey asshole, three of my buddies died there." The soldier who'd kicked Frank began.

"It appears we've found our spy." Stewart began.

"What? No!" Frank began.

"Somebody had to have informed the Russians on the facility's vulnerabilities." Stewart replied, "And due to recent evidence, the finger points closest to you."

"I swear I have nothing to do with this." Frank protested. _Please God don't let them find out that I work for ACME. _

"This says otherwise." Stewart replied, holding up a hardened case, the size of a child's lunchpail. Inside it was the satellite phone.

"What would an ordinary citizen need with a satellite phone?" Stewart continued.

"I'm a businessman. I have to work from on the road because I travel a lot. I got stuck on this island when the Russians attacked..." Frank began.

The soldier slammed the butt of his rifle into the pit of Frank's stomach. He gasped in pain. "Liar." Stewart replied, "I ask again, is this what you used to contact your handlers from the GRU..."

"I don't work for the GRU." Frank protested, "I'm innocent..."

"It's impolite to disrupt someone when they're speaking." Stewart replied, and nodded. One of the civilians, a teenaged girl stepped forward.

"Your phone calls killed my brother." she said, and knee kicked Frank violently in the groin.

Tears of pain streamed into Frank's eyes. The civilians and soldiers surrounding Frank had little pity in their eyes, and a detached part of Frank understood why. "I never called anyone in the GRU!"

"Is this corporation you work for a front company for Russian intelligence, i.e. the GRU?" Stewart asked.

"I told you I work for Gray's Exports and Imports..." Frank replied, "It's on my business cards!"

Stewart nodded and a pudgy, bald fellow wearing a flannel shirt and jeans moved a cart forward. On this cart was a car battery and two electrodes. The bald man touched the contacts together after closing the circuit on the battery, shooting blue sparks out.

"I ask you one more time, who do you work for?" Stewart asked.

"I'm not from the GRU! I'm not even Russian!" Frank protested.

"Your tan does suggest someone from a southern republic of the USSR." Stewart replied.

"I'm an Italian from New Jersey!" Frank protested.

Stewart simply nodded and the bald man touched the electrodes to Frank. Frank howled an animal cry of pain as the current coursed through him. The electrodes were drawn away and Frank smelled the acrid stench of burnt clothing and skin just below his chest.

"So, what's a Jersey boy doing working for the GRU?" Stewart replied.

"How much did they pay you, traitor?" The bald man asked.

"I'm not a GRU spy!" Frank replied.

"If that's the case. Who paid you then, the KGB?" Stewart asked.

"I don't work for any Russian intelligence..." Frank began.

The soldier struck Frank with the butt of his rifle, as Stewart nodded to him. The rifle struck Frank in the stomach.

Just then another soldier came in saying, "The Russians are getting close, sir!"

"Let's kill this scum and be done." The first soldier said.

"Wait," Stewart replied, "Let's take him with us. We don't want his colleagues saving him. And we don't want him dead, yet."

"Yes sir." The first soldier said, reluctantly, whispering in Frank's ear, "As soon as you spill your secret's spy bastard, you die..."

The second soldier slipped a canvas bag over Frank's head, before dragging him through the tunnels of the sewers, towards the Kronos Laboratory Facility.

---

Alan Fielder ducked inside the roadside bar just outside of town. It was a favored hangout for soldiers, bikers, and the occasional trucker. He used this place to pass messages, usually to Emily, but occasionally to Frank. He hoped the communication's specialist had enough tradecraft to avoid being captured by the Russians.

_Good luck you guys, you're gonna need it. _Fielder thought. _I'm on my way, I won't leave you two behind. _

The corpses of several facility guards who had tried to escape from the Command and Control Facility lay in the middle of the shattered tables. From previous experience, Alan knew that there was something of help to him behind the bar. Alan ducked behind the bar, and felt along underneath. He grinned when he found what he was looking for. A Franchi SPAS-12 pump action riot shotgun with a folding stock and a sling.

_Ol' Emilio never took kindly to rowdy drunks tearing the place apart. _Fielder thought. He checked the chamber, finding a red plastic shell of Double Aught Buckshot in the chamber and seven more rounds in the tubular magazine.

He hefted the weapon, feeling the solid weight of the weapon in his hands. _If the Russians see me with this thing, they'll kill me on sight. If caught unarmed I could at least bullshit some excuse, but I'd rather be armed. _

Alan dug underneath the bar, looking for more shells, finding six more of them behind a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale. _Maybe next time._ Fielder thought.

_Hang in there guys, I'm on my way. _Fielder thought as he snuck out of the back of the bar. _And why are you doing this again? All logic says you should escape, head for the coastline and try to find a boat to get to the mainland and escape. _

Screw logic. Emily and Frank are your friends. You have to try and help them. Fielder thought, as he moved through the forest,_ Are you sure you're doing this for both of them, or do you have some ulterior motives... _

Whether in the woods around Sheena or on the African veldt Alan Fielder knew one thing, whenever the sounds of nature had stopped that meant something predatory was near. _Quit musing dammit. _Fielder scanned around, feeling that same rush of adrenaline that trailing many a predator through the underbrush brought about.

He heard a sound, light, quick footstepsrunning through the woods with very little to advertise their presence. He felt the familiarfeeling that he felt when patrolling through the brush during the Rhodesian Bush War.

He flicked the safety off the weapon as he turned to see the creature bearing down on him. It leapt from the brush, claws extended, it's yellow eyes glowing in a faceless black head, antenna protruding from it's head. All five feet of the long, limber, Neoshadow sprung from cover.

Bang! Fielder fired the shotgun once. The buckshot intercepted the creature in midair, sending it flying backwards.

The creature smacked against the ground, and rose again, raising the clawed hands to maim and dismember. Ca-chunk. Bang! Fielder chambered another round fired again, blowing a hole through the creature's chest, as its momentum carried it forward. _Christ, why won't you die? _

Ca-chunk. Bang! Fielder fired another shell, this one striking the Neoshadow with nine pellets of Double Aught Buckshot in the face, practically decapitating it. Finally the creature fell dead to the ground.

Somebody had to have heard those shots. Fielder thought, as he reloaded three more rounds into the shotgun, while running deeper into the woods and towards the town, watching out for three main threats. The Russians. The Heartless. Or Syndrome's forces...

---

"Multiple? What are you doing here?" Shadowcat asked as she saw the thirteen year old X-man.

"Tagging along with you guys." Multiple replied, matter-of-factly.

"We've gotta get the kid back." Wolverine began.

"Aww, you guys let Iceman on this mission and he's less mature than I am." Multiple protested.

"We have a tight timeline." Roadblock said, "By the time we've sent Multiple back, even with the Mass Device, COBRA could move the prisoners on the island."

"We could leave him here, and when the boat turns around the kid can jump ship." Shipwreck replied.

"Absolutely not, Shipwreck." Cover Girl replied. "We can't leave him alone on this strange ship..."

"Why not, the kid's past puberty, and he's certainly wise to the routine aboard cruise ships...Say, you think you can get me some phone numbers?" Shipwreck asked.

"Ow!" Shipwreck said as Cover Girl thwacked him upside the head.

"Half Pint, keep an eye on Squirt here." Wolverine replied.

"What?" Kitty protested.

"No time to argue." Wolverine said, as they boarded the captured Cobra speedboats.

Shipwreck steered the first boat towards the shoreline of the rocky island on the horizon, following the COBRA radio transponder beacon. The facility was an underground facility, like most COBRA labs.

A solitary BAT was guarding the docks and as it registered the passengers on the two boats weren't COBRAs it was decapitated before it could sound the alarm. Xi materialized from thin air, having snuck up on the robot while invisible.

"Fan out." Roadblock began, "Search this place from top to bottom."

The teams did so, engaging the occasional BAT in the tunnels and corridors.

Mr. Incredible smashed a BAT against the walls of the tunnels. "These things are a pain!"

A burst of flame from a BAT's wrist, narrowly missed Helen. "Tell me about it."

Roadblock fired a burst of gunfire from his M240G machinegun, hitting him with several armor piercing bullets.

"Don't you find this strange?" Cover Girl asked, "This is a highly important facility, with computers, genetic manipulation equipment, and everything else and they've only got a few BATS defending in."

"A few?" Shipwreck replied as he fired two fifty caliber Action Express rounds into another BAT, "There are tons of them in the corridors."

"Not to mention the occasional Heartless!" Cyclops began.

"Guys!" Shadowcat shouted, "I hear crying in the next room."

"Are you alright?" Dragonfly called, "Hang in there, we'll get to you."

Pitor smashed against the door, splintering it as Shipwreck, Elastigirl, Dash, Toad, Cover Girl, Roadblock, Cyclops, Shadowcat, Xi, Quicksilver, Mutliple, Iceman, and Nightcrawler smashed through the lab.

There was nothing there but a dummy with a tape recorder on a lab bench. "What the hell is going on?" Elastigirl asked.

Before anyone could answer a recording sounded, a voice the two Incredibles recognized as Syndrome's, echoed into the chamber, "As you've no doubt guessed, this facility is empty. You've only destroyed a few dozen BATS. Now I have a little gift for you all. Remember you've been had by...SYNDROME!"

Just then a flash brighter than an old style camera filled the room. The people in the room felt as if the world fell out from under them, that their stomachs went into their chests, their hearts into their heads, their heads to fly to pieces.

---

Shipwreck heard the familiar sound of waves lapping on a beach. He felt like he'd just had a monster hangover.

"Where the hell are we?" Shipwreck said, as his eyes opened.

"We're not on the Azores anymore, that's for sure." Cover Girl replied as she awoke and sat up.

As Shipwreck's eyes opened, he found himself staring up at Cover Girl, his head in her lap. "As far as awakenings go, this isn't too bad...OW!"

"Shipwreck! Can you turn your hormones off for one second?" Cover Girl asked.

"Knowing Shipwreck, that's quite a feat." Roadblock replied.

"Stop with the rhyming already. I feel like I've got a hangover." Shipwreck replied.

"This should help." Cover Girl replied, seeming to rub Shipwreck's forehead before dumping him into the waves.

"You need to cool off." Cover Girl replied.

"HEY!" Shipwreck sputtered.

As he stood up, Shipwreck noticed a body floating face down in the surf. He dragged the gray uniformed corpse onto the pebble beach.

"What the hell? Where the hell are we?" Cyclops asked as he stood up.

"It's safe to assume not the Azores." Elastigirl replied, "I know exactly where we are."

"So where are we?" Cover Girl asked, annoyed, as she picked up her M-16 and checked it for functionality.

"We're on Sheena Island, about fifty miles off the coast of Metroville." Elastigirl said.

"And who's the dead guy?" Shipwreck asked.

"That's a soldier in Syndrome's Army." Elastigirl replied.

"He owns Metroville now." Dash said, soberly, "And these gray uniformed creeps that we fought earlier, when we thought we beat Syndrome, are now on every street corner."

"So who killed him?" Roadblock asked.

"The Soviets." Elastigirl replied.

"Come again? The Soviet Union no longer exists." Cover Girl replied.

"On your world, no it doesn't. On this world, yes it does." Dash snapped back.

"Apparently Syndrome taking power was something they couldn't stand and they invaded Metroville." Shadowcat replied.

"It looks like this man was killed by an ax or similar projectile thrown at the area between his shoulders." Xi remarked.

"It looks like the Russians own this island." Elastigirl replied.

Bursts of gunfire and explosions could be heard further inland. "Not entirely." Cover Girl replied, "It sounds like they're still fighting."

"What do we do now?" Nightcrawler asked.

"Let's see. We're stranded on a world we don't really know about, stuck between two warring factions, and the Mass Device isn't working. Yup, we're screwed." Pietro replied.

"You're not helping, Quicksilver. Or should I say Slowsilver."

"Shut up!" Pietro replied.

"Make me!" Dash replied.

"With pleasure!" Pietro replied and rushed forward, Dash sped out of the way, laughing.

"The solution to the problem might well be inland." Roadblock said, "So it is the only real chance that we stand."

"You want to go in there?" Nightcrawler asked.

"We can't keep hiding from the Russians on the beach. And from the others it seems we are out of reach." Roadblock said, "So here's the plan, my man. We go inland and find answers, and a way back to our world in a good timespan..."

---

TBC

EmilythoughtThe dead letter box was the place where the three ACME operatives would exchange messages or coordinate meetings if things looked too dangerous to actually meet in person. The operatives' dead letter boxes were hidden in plain sight, an innocuous potted plant, the inside of an abandoned tire, the bottom of a park bench. Emily replied. Emily really had no choice. She crawled away from the sounds of movement below. Her jeans were getting incredibly dusty as she continued to crawl in a direction that she hoped would lead her outside. She climbed down, putting her feet gently onto the desk, wishing her shoes weren't hard soled. Her heart was hammering, hoping there weren't Russians stacked outside the door, ready to break it down and break inside. A file beneath her right foot caused her to slip and nearly hit the floor with a crash. Fielder thought, as he reloaded three more rounds into the shotgun, while running deeper into the woods and towards the town, watching out for three main threats. The Russians. The Heartless. Or Syndrome's forces..."Multiple? What are you doing here?" Shadowcat asked as she saw the thirteen year old X-man. 


	3. Jumping Tracks

1Jumping Tracks

Disclaimer: Same as before…

---

"So a majority of our team members are missing, and we have no idea where they are?" Jean began.

"ARH HA HA HA HAR!" Jack Sparrow and the Pirates all chanted, waving their cutlasses into the air.

"Will you shut up!" Jean replied, "This is serious!"

"Who's missing, that's what we need to know?" Falcon asked. After the Azores Incident, Hawk had temporarily reassigned Falcon as the team leader for the Misfits.

"That would be Roadblock, Shipwreck, Cover Girl, Avalanche, Xi, and Quicksilver from us." Low Light replied.

"We're missing Cyclops, Iceman, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, Multiple, and Colossus." Jean replied.

"Elastigirl and Dash are missing from my family." Mr. Incredible replied.

"This could be magical in nature." Ted replied.

"What led you to that conclusion?" Low Light asked.

"My girlfriend is a witch. Of course I've gained somewhat of a passing familiarity with magic." Ted replied, "Besides Paige has mentioned things about demons being able to transport people and themselves into other dimensions."

"I'm not convinced it's magical." Forge replied, "There could be a perfectly scientific reason for this to have occurred."

"I'll head to San Francisco and see what I can find." Ted began.

"Wait one minute, Mister." Low Light remarked.

"What?" Ted replied.

"First of all, you spend more time in San Francisco than you do here at the Pit." Low Light began.

"I always come back in for work." Ted replied, "And I'm always here whenever I'm needed."

"That's the thing. You're always heading over for San Francisco at the earliest possible opportunity to spend time with your witch. Or go climbing through canyons…" Low Light sniped.

"First of all, with our most recent foes having some magical connections, having witches on our side might be helpful." Ted replied.

"A convenient excuse." Low Light replied.

"Whatever." Ted replied, "Paige is probably going to want an explanation."

"Having problems with your witch?" Low Light sniped. "In all honesty, I've got no sympathy for you pal."

"You take that back asshole." Mountaineer growled.

"What are you going to do about it?" Low Light replied as he walked right up to Ted.

Ted said nothing but slugged Low Light solidly in the mouth, "Kick your ass for bad mouthing my girl!"

Low Light spit the blood from his lip before tackling Ted, driving him into the wall. "I'd love to see you try." Low Light replied.

Ted drove his head into Low Light's head before kneeing him in the groin.

"That's enough!" Beast roared as the two men rolled on the ground, punching, wrestling, and head butting one another.

Wolverine grabbed a hold of Ted, holding him back. "Take it easy bub."

"What's the matter, can't take it when someone brings up the fact that you're a slacker." Low Light said, "Technical and tactical proficiency."

"Slacker my ass, Low Light!" Ted snapped back, straining against Wolverine's grasp, "I've been early for every one of your training sessions. I've been shooting expertly, following _your_ damn commandments. I've been putting the effort forward."

"Effort isn't enough, Mountaineer." Low Light replied as Beast and Falcon were trying to hold him down.

"You know, some of us have lives." Ted replied, "I've passed your damn tests!"

"Passing isn't enough!"

"Both of you seriously sound like you've got the male version of PMS!" Tabitha commented.

"This is a side effect of the loss of our team members." Blob began, in his Psychiatrist Fred voice.

"Come again?" Bluey asked.

"Don't you see? Low Light's constant bickering with Shipwreck masked underlying issues Mountaineer and Low Light had with each other. Then there was Cover Girl who usually kept those two from fighting and thus airing out their issues." Psychiatrist Fred continued, "Now let's sit these two down and let them air out their issues."

"Low Light, you're jealous of Mountaineer." Fred began.

"What? He can have his sneaking off to San Francisco whenever he can!" Low Light snapped back.

"And you seem to not have the best of luck when it comes to women. Especially when the other adults seem to make remarks of your status as a virgin..." Fred began, in a clinically detached tone.

Ted chuckled just then, just as Fred replied, "And you also have issues..."

"Come again?" Ted replied.

"Well, from your file, you've always been an independent mindset." Blob replied, "But for some reason you've always felt like you never really belonged anywhere. And that's why you tend to be a bit on the footloose side. It's why you're compelled to wander and explore…Even though things have gotten a bit more domestic in your case."

"Hey, it's not like Paige and I are engaged." Ted replied.

"Woo woo woo woo woo woo…" Klondike began, as he walked over to them and dropped Ted's cell phone on the ground, as the notes of the Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, echoed into the air.

"Paige?" Ted replied, as he picked up his phone, "I'll be there in a few minutes…"

"This isn't over." Low Light replied.

"You're one step closer into turning into a Heartless." Ted snapped back as he headed out with Klondike.

---

Officer Benny Tyler, Metroville National Police fired his issue semi-automatic at two approaching Russians as they smashed into the hospital. He saw the bullet strike one of the Russians in the upper arm as he ducked inside an office. He pulled down the alarm lever.

The two Russians entered the lobby with more of their comrades behind them. _Crap. _Benny realized there was no way out of this small alcove, and the Russians had seen him duck inside. He aimed his pistol at the doorway arch as the Russians forced the door open a crack. A cylinder about the size of a soda can was thrown inside.

Benny scrambled towards the door in a panic, hoping to get to the door before the grenade exploded. The grenade exploded with a flash. Benny felt his stomach burn as razor edged metal fragments tore into him. He crawled behind a desk, where his gun had been blown during the explosion.

Just after the grenade blew up the Russians sprayed the room with automatic fire and Benny felt bullets rip into his right arm, shoulder, and side. Bleeding profusely now, Benny tried to drag himself to cover as two Russian soldiers burst into the room.

Benny glanced up, noticing a Russian soldier with a bleeding arm. The wounded Russian turned towards him and fired one round from his AK-74 rifle into the center of Benny's forehead. Benny's body flopped against the ground, his brain was dead but his body didn't know it yet.

Private Yuri Valenki quickly put a dressing on his wounded arm before heading back into the fighting.

Before the Metroville defenders on the first floor could organize, the _spetsnaz_ were already amongst them. Systematically they broke open doors with shotgun shells to the hinges, threw in grenades, and then fired bursts of automatic fire before entering the rooms and dispatching any survivors with either single rifle shots or a strike of the rifle butt.

---

The Misfits continued to move inland. Shipwreck was on point, with Roadblock directly behind him, Elastigirl, Dash, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Multiple, Xi, Quicksilver, Cyclops, and Iceman following. Bringing up the rear was Cover Girl.

Shipwreck gestured with his right hand, and the Misfits ducked into the brush. Passing very close by was a Russian patrol of half a dozen men armed with five AK-74 assault rifles and one PKM light machinegun. The Russians passed close enough to the Misfits for Althea to see the hands on the Russian machinegunner's watch.

Soon enough the Russians left the area and the small group continued inland, with Elastigirl giving the occasional directions or stretching her head above the treetops to see what she could see. She could see that the island's Coastal Command and Control facility was just ahead.

The group moved towards the facility, seeing the fence was intact. For all the good the twelve foot electrified fence did against the Russians it might as well not have been there at all. The corpses of the guards at the main gate lay in pools of drying blood and brains, single bullet holes in heads or torsos.

"Snipers, no question." Roadblock began, the dead men had been shot to death where they stood by unseen Russians with telescope sighted rifles.

The group fanned out into the compound and saw several dead bodies of Metroville soldiers, lying where they'd fallen.

Kitty shifted her foot, thinking she'd stepped on some debris. She turned around and gasped. She was standing on a human hand. The body was lying on it's back, that of a nineteen year old soldier, a hole blown through his chest by a shotgun blast. His eyes were still open, glassed over, but staring right into Kitty's eyes.

"Focus, Half-Pint." Wolverine said, tugging on Kitty's collar.

Shipwreck signaled to Roadblock who nodded and followed him up the stairwell, stepping over the corpse of a blonde haired, bespectacled soldier in his early twenties whose throat had been cut, as evidenced by the pool of blood near the corpse.

The two men stood outside the door, Shipwreck holding one of his Desert Eagles in his right hand, his left on the door knob. Roadblock had a Colt 1911A1 in his hands as he squeezed Shipwreck's shoulder, signaling for him to open the door. Shipwreck crossed diagonally to the left into the room while Roadblock hooked to the right, sweeping corners until they were confident they were the only living beings in the room.

The dead body of a sergeant was sprawled in death on the floor of the control tower. He had died as the result of a gunshot to the forehead at close range, and Shipwreck could tell because of the lack of bleeding on the burned areas of his legs despite numerous shallow furrows brought about by shrapnel. The consoles had been blown apart by some charges the Russians had put on the computers before they'd left.

The carnage was the same all over the compound. Cover Girl, Elastigirl and Dash turned a corner to find two soldiers shot through the head.

"Bart Stevens…" Dash began, visibly distressed, sure Bart was a jerk to all the younger kids, but he didn't deserve to die barely able to defend himself.

"Wasn't he that mean kid that used to pick on you all the time?" Helen asked.

"Yeah, he was…but even he doesn't deserve to get shot through the head." Dash replied. Bart had died reaching for his weapon, but it never left the holster. Whoever this Russian assassin was, he was a damn good marksman…and…

A burst of gunfire sounded from outside the fence. Cover Girl dropped behind cover and returned fire with her M-16 in the general direction of the attackers. She fired until the magazine went empty and ducked behind the concrete pillar, making herself as small as she could as bullets chipped and smacked against it. Courtney Kreiger couldn't do a damn thing. If she tried to run, she'd be cut down in a massive hail of bullets. If she tried to get her weapon back into the fight, she'd be cut down as well.

The others had fanned out into the various buildings on the compound, trying to see what they could find, there really wasn't anyone else nearby except for Elastigirl and Dash and…

Another burst of gunfire answered the salvo. Roadblock joined the fighting with his M240G light machinegun. Cover Girl popped back from behind cover, firing rounds and seeing her bullets take down one of the Russians firing on them.

Shipwreck joined the fighting with his twin Desert Eagles, killing a second Russian before the Russian patrol dragged their casualties off and retreated.

"I think we'd better move on. The Russians know we're here, and probably won't take long." Roadblock replied.

"No argument." Cover Girl replied as they headed back into the woods.

---

"I want my command center right here." Major Mikhail Griegarovich ordered as he stood in the lobby of the prison.

All around him several sailors were setting up communication equipment, another sailor ran by with a PKM machinegun which he set up in a nearby guard tower. Another was loading a fresh magazine into his AK-74.

In the distance more fighting could be heard, but the town was already under Russian control.

"Comrade Major, only two casualties sustained. The town is already pacified, with the citizens under a seven PM curfew." Lieutenant Michkin began.

"Comrade Major…" came a shout.

Junior Lieutenant Nikolai Andropov came into the room just then. "Intruders at the C2 Facility. The patrol lost two men."

"It appears we have a small rat infestation, lieutenant." Griegarovich replied.

"Perhaps Colonel Berwick's doing?" Michkin suggested.

"He disappeared when we raided the C2 facility and the town. There's no telling where he is right now." Andropov replied.

"That's the highest priority. Finding the Colonel and killing him. I need not remind you two that Berwick is a formidable security operative, failing to eliminate him is a failure we must remedy immediately." Griegarovich replied, "I suggest you carry that order out immediately, comrades."

With a nod both men headed out to take on Colonel Berwick's resistance, taking two squads of men with them.

---

"Whoa," Multiple remarked, "It's a Heartless."

Lying in the leaf litter of the forest floor, behind the small roadside bar was a Heartless, just a bit taller than Multiple. It's body had horrible wounds torn in it by buckshot. A trio of red plastic shotgun shells and splatters of the creature's black blood were nearby. It had been practically decapitated by one of the shotgun blasts.

"So there are Heartless on this Island too?" Kitty asked.

"Evidently." Lance remarked.

"That's how Syndrome took power." Helen replied, "The Heartless attacked Metroville one day, and then Syndrome appeared and said he could help…"

"We saw right through his ruse, some of us did at least. But most of Metroville didn't see his trickery and thought he genuinely drove the Heartless away." Dash replied.

"And Syndrome said that he could make the Heartless work for us and true to his word he did." Helen continued.

"How did they fall for that scam?" Shipwreck replied.

"For all intents and purposes it sounded like Syndrome controlled the Heartless. He used them for all kinds of big construction projects all over Metroville." Helen replied, "Ones that benefited the citizens, that turned the majority of the population on his side and…"

"And turned them against Supers?" Shipwreck replied.

"Exactly." Helen replied, "And…"

"And what…" Cover Girl replied.

"I get the feeling we're being watched." Helen began.

"I do as well." Xi replied, "I'll find this intruder."

---

Alan Fielder watched what looked like the strangest patrol he'd ever seen go by. _That rules out the possibility of them being Russians. Somewhat._

Indeed, there were two Supers he recognized, a sailor with two fifty caliber Desert Eagles, a black man with a shaven head and a machinegun, a redheaded woman with an M-16, a blue devil, and what looked like a bunch from those old Superhero comics he used to read as a kid.

_They're Supers of some kind, but the question is whose side are they on? I mean they were relocated before Syndrome first appeared. Earlier he was killing off their number, and now that Syndrome's in power he's persecuting them again. So they very likely may have sided with the Russians…_Fielder thought.

Suddenly the strange gold maned lizard vanished into thin air. _What the hell? _Fielder thought.

There was a slight rustling in the leaf litter behind him. Fielder turned around, flicking the safety off of the shotgun. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, the way they did whenever he would go after wounded leopards or from stalking the Heartless around Rhodesia, before the world of Rhodesia fell to the Heartless.

But there was nothing in the direction of the sound. But every instinct Fielder had, every instinct and sense finely honed from hunting dangerous predators and fighting the Heartless screamed that something was lurking nearby, something unmistakably predatory. He scanned the area, looking, and listening for some sounds.

It was then that the point of impact came about. A weight about as heavy as a leopard, and about that strong struck him in the back, driving him to the ground. The shotgun toppled to the ground and Fielder scrambled for it only to feel the creature drive its weight into his back. Fielder pushed against it but felt the creature, whatever it was, wrench his arm in a wrist lock behind his back. Fielder turned over on his back, hoping to try and fight against the thing.

_This bastard's not getting my heart without a fight. _Fielder thought. He felt thin, claw-like arms pinning his arms to the ground as a green scaled, lizard like humanoid appeared out of thin air.

"Whatever the hell kind of Heartless you are, I hope you rot in hell!" Fielder spat.

"I think you and I share a common foe." the green scaled humanoid replied.

"What?" Fielder said, "Are you some kind of Super?"

"Let's just say I'm not from around here and leave it at that." Xi replied.

"And I guess you're not associated with the Soviets?" Fielder asked.

"No." Xi replied.

Just then the rest of the group Fielder had been observing came out of the woods. "Let him up, Xi." Althea said, "He's no threat."

Xi backed off, but stayed within lunging distance in case Fielder decided to become uncooperative.

"Who are you people?" Fielder asked.

"We might ask the same of you." Shipwreck replied, "After all, you're walking around with a gun in the middle of a war zone."

"Alan Fielder. A couple of my friends got stuck in the town when the Russians hit us." Fielder replied, "What about you guys? You have to be Supers of some kind, I recognize Elastigirl and the kid..."

"Hey, watch it with the kid label pal!" Dash snapped.

"Let's say we're from far away from here and leave it at that." Roadblock replied.

"Fair enough." Fielder replied.

"What about you? Are you with the Resistance?" Elastigirl asked.

"No." Fielder replied, "I stay out of the politics of this whole lot, I'm just trying to find my friends and stay alive and get us the hell off this island."

"For the time being, it seems we have one goal in common." Shipwreck said.

"I believe this is yours..." Xi replied, heading over to the weapon.

"Whoa, Xi, you're letting this guy get his gun back." Cyclops snapped.

Xi shot Cyclops a look that said, "If he even tries anything I'll rip him in half."

"So when did the Russians attack this island?" Elastigirl asked.

"Earlier yesterday morning." Fielder replied.

"How did they get here?" Elastigirl asked.

"I don't know." Fielder replied, hoping he lied convincingly enough.

_Huh, this guy knows more than he's letting on. _Elastigirl thought. _Who does he work for? Will he betray us._

"Wait a second, if the Soviet Union still exists on this world..." Shipwreck began.

"Way to go, Shipwreck, you just blew our secret." Cyclops replied.

"We're all in this soup sandwich together, kid." Shipwreck replied, "We might as well start to cooperate. Now, before I was so rudely interrupted, is the Soviet Union on this world similar to the one that used to exist on ours?"

"I'd guess so." Elastigirl replied.

"_Spetsnaz._" Shipwreck began, "I'd guess Naval Spetsnaz, because they were attacking an island."

"What?" Cyclops asked.

"The word translates into 'Troops of special purpose', basically Soviet Special Forces. They work for the GRU, or the Main Intelligence Directorate." Colossus replied.

"How do you know that?" Cyclops asked.

"If their Soviet Union is anything like the one that I remember growing up, then that would be the force they would use to take this island." Colossus replied.

"They're trained in sabotage, weaponry, stealth and silent infiltration." Elastigirl replied, "And they've been causing all kinds of acts of sabotage all over Metroville even before this island was invaded(1)."

"A force of them, I'd say about fifty or sixty of them either swam to shore with aqualungs, masks and fins or with rubber boats." Shipwreck replied, "Soviet Naval _Spetsnaz _units are perfectly suited for this type of mission."

"Great so we know we're facing the Russian equivalent of Navy SEALs on one side, and Syndrome's forces allied with the Heartless on the other..." Cyclops began.

"And we can't just sit here yakking all day. We'll have to get moving if we're to find a way off this world." Roadblock said.

"If that's even possible." Cover Girl replied.

"I would think the Kronos Facility, some kind of high tech place on the other side of the town would be an option." Fielder replied, checking his shotgun, "If you'll help me find my friends in town, I'll be more than willing to guide you to the Kronos Facility."

"If you try anything..." Althea warned.

"You'll tear me in half, I got it." Fielder replied, as he headed for the front of the column, "If you can keep up, follow me."

Fielder weaved through the dense brush silently but swiftly, as the Misfits and X-men followed him.

Within an hour they were in a back alley on the outskirts of the town. At the end of the alley were three doors. Two double wooden doors leading into a church, a nondescript metal door, and a third metal door covered with posters.

"OK genius," Bobby challenged, "Now which way do we go?"

"Well there are three different ways that lead to the same road…" Fielder began before the sound of a gun battle at the far end of the alley, coming closer and closer echoed loudly.

Cover Girl, Shadowcat, Avalanche, Dash and Quicksilver went into the first nondescript metal door. Elastigirl, Shipwreck, Cyclops, Xi and Iceman went into the poster covered metal door. Fielder, Roadblock, Iceman, Multiple, and Colossus went into the church.

----

As soon as Kitty phased through the metal door she unlocked it and let the others inside. Lying on the floor was a ledger of some kind, propped open with an ink pen. It looked like a diary of some kind. "Hey guys…" Kitty began.

"Hey Kit Kat," Quicksilver began, "We can peruse the fiction section later, but we've gotta get moving…"

The sound of the gun battle drawing closer and closer convinced Kitty not to go and fight with Pietro right now. _Note to self, smack Quicksilver on the head later…_

Cover Girl opened the next door in front of her and saw three Shadow Heartless roaming around the kitchen. She raised her M-16 as she walked into the room and fired three rounds into the nearest Heartless before shifting her aim to the second Heartless, killing it immediately. Finally her aim focused on the third Heartless which she dispatched with another three rounds, two to the chest and a third to the head.

"Come on, let's go." Cover Girl replied, as they continued through the dented stainless steel counters, "Someone had to have heard those shots."

As they moved, Cover Girl changed out the magazine of her weapon for a full one. Kitty phased through the nearest door. A split second later she phased back into the kitchen, "RUN!" was all she was able to shout before a clawed hand yanked her back into the front of the restaurant.

With the life of the woman he loved at stake, Lance didn't hesitate. His eyesrolled back into his head and the wall shook violently, causing the door to crash down.

Three more Neoshadow Heartless were clinging to Shadowcat. Two more were banging on the glass front of the restaurant.

Kitty tried to phase out of the grasp of the three creatures, but for some reason, the Heartless were able to negate her phasing power. One of the creatures was raising its clawed hand, ready to dismember her when all of a sudden a tremor hit, freeing her.

Lance was standing in the room, a look of anger and concentration on his face as he send the trio of Heartless into the wall before collapsing the roof and the nearby wall onto the creatures, burying them under several tons of brick, mortar and support beams.

"LANCE KNOCK IT OFF!" Pietro screamed as the restaurant shook violently, "THE WHOLE DAMN ISLAND WILL KNOW WE'RE HERE!"

The glass front of the restaurant shattered letting the two Neoshadows into the room. Colossus flung himself at the two creatures. The two Heartless moved out of range of Colossus until they had him outflanked. Both of them charged simultaneously towards the Russian mutant.

Colossus swung one metal hand, smashing the faceless head of the first Neoshadow, knocking it back, before he turned toward the second which he picked up and flung into the first creature, sending both of them out into the alley.

The two Neoshadows recovered quickly and attacked Colossus again, both of them crashing into him, clawing ineffectively at his metal armor.

Colossus twisted the neck of the first Heartless, killing it immediately before grabbing a hold of the second, spinning around and around as if he was preparing to throw a large hammer. Finally he let go, throwing the Heartless out of the restaurant until it landed somewhere far away, impaled on half a dozen broken metal pipes.

"So what did you find, Kitty?" Cover Girl asked.

"It looks like a diary of some kind." Kitty replied, holding it open for everyone to see.

**October 8th**

**That Serum is such a hassle to receive. In the middle of my busiest hour a medical truck parked outside of my restaurant and said that everyone inside had to receive a vaccination, in case the Russians decide to use chemical weapons. They lined us up and injected us with these big ass needles. After the injections we all felt under the weather, and it felt hard to breathe. Personally I don't trust these 'experimental' vaccines. **

**October 9th**

**I talked to Reverend Galswells, and he said he felt the same tightness in his chest after being injected with this wonder drug to protect us from Soviet chemical weapons. What kind of a cockamany vaccine hurts like anything? It doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard of.**

**October 10th **

**Lisa, one of my waitresses, fainted at work today. No, wait, not fainted collapsed in a damn seizure. I called the paramedics, and got an ambulance over here. It was two guys in white quarantine suits. What the hell is going on here? **

**October 12th **

**Lisa died last night, of a heart attack. When I pressed the hospital for information, they said that a small percentage of people suffer serious side effects from the vaccine. I've gotta get off this damn island somehow…**

"So what is this vaccine, Dash?" Kitty asked.

"Beats the hell out of me." Dash replied, "But knowing Syndrome, it's probably some diabolical scheme, but I don't know what it is…"

---

As the group proceeded through the movie theater, past the poster covered door a loud crash sounded. From the ceiling a Neoshadow jumped onto Elastigirl's back. Shipwreck immediately fired one of his Desert Eagles from less than a foot away, practically caving in the creature's skull.

"Shipwreck, don't fire that thing so close to my head again. I can barely hear as is." Elastigirl replied.

"Shut up!" Shipwreck shouted as he fired both Desert Eagles over Elastigirl's head at two approaching Neoshadows, dropping both creatures in their tracks. He dropped the empty and mostly empty magazines from his weapons just as a forth Neoshadow jumped onto his back, and began to claw at him wanting to flip the G.I. Joe sailor over to take his heart.

Cyclops fired an optic blast that launched the creature through the flimsy drywall behind it.  
"Thanks for the save, Cyclops." Shipwreck grunted as he stood up and slammed two new six round magazines into his Desert Eagles.

There was a pair of double doors at the far end of the lobby. Xi tried the door and said, "Locked."

"Not for long." Cyclops replied.

"Wait, we don't want to alert the Russians or any jumpy Metroville soldiers left alive." Shipwreck said.

"Now what?" Iceman asked, "We just stay here?"

"No, we find the key. It's gotta be somewhere in the theater. If we don't find it, then we'll breach the door and get the hell out of here." Shipwreck replied.

"He's right." Elastigirl said, "Cyclops, you and Iceman search downstairs. Shipwreck, Xi and I will search upstairs."

"Who died and left you in charge?" Bobby challenged.

"In case you've forgotten, Iceman, this is my world." Elastigirl replied, "I know a lot more about it than you guys do…"

"Iceman, don't argue." Cyclops began, "Let's just find that damn key and get out of here."

As Shipwreck, Xi, and Elastigirl headed upstairs, they followed a narrow corridor towards the projection room. Shipwreck opened the door just in time to have another Neoshadow dive on top of him.

Xi's clawed hands flung outward, instantly beheading the Neoshadow, causing the neck stump to spurt black blood as the body of the beast flapped erratically on the tile.

The trio entered the projection room, which was a mess of film canisters, a couple cartons of half eaten Chinese takeout, and a report of some kind. Shipwreck picked up the report and began to leaf through it. As he leaned on the nearby projector his arm flipped the switch and activated it.

"Shipwreck, what did you find?" Xi asked.

"It's a report of some kind." Shipwreck said as Xi and Elastigirl peered over his shoulder to read.

**October 10th **

**External security assessment. So far the coastal areas of Metroville are clear. But there are thousands of miles that are vulnerable to infiltration from the sea. Recent intelligence suggests that the Soviets may try an infiltration from the sea. As such I've suggested to Colonel Berwick that we run regular patrols along the island's coastline.**

"A lot of good that did." Shipwreck replied, "The Russians are on the island."

**October 11th**

**Some isolated satellite transmissions have been detected from somewhere near or on the island. Business people use satellite phones, and there are a few here on the island that have these phones in their possessions. But such a device could be used to signal nearby Soviet forces, perhaps a submarine hiding beneath the waves, or a spy trawler with a _Spetsnaz _detachment hiding onboard. We seem to have a spy in our midst.**

**October 23rd **

**Two days from now it will be the seventieth anniversary of the October Revolution, the revolution that created the Soviet Union. The Russians, as history has demonstrated, are always big on anniversaries. And it would be prudent to expect an attack on the 25th…**

"Turns out they were right." Elastigirl said, "According to the wall clock it's the 26th, and it sounds like the Russians invaded about twenty-four hours ago."

"Guys…" Cyclops said, as he poked his head inside, "We've found the key…"

---

"Unconfirmed reports state that fifteen Soviet Motorized Infantry Divisions and at least seven Armored Divisions as well as armed forces of other Warsaw Pact nations are poised along the Metroville Border." The announcer of Metroville News Network began, "...Stand by for a live special report from Steven McDonald, live from Westburg. Steve."

BOOM! "Donna, it's utter bedlam over here." A reddish blonde haired man with a rumpled shirt and tie began, "About fifteen minutes ago rockets and artillery shells began to rain down from across the border. The last reports from the nearest listening posts said that Russian tanks were storming across the border with motorized infantry as support and..."

Another explosion close by sounded, the report was cut short in a burst of static as cameraman and reporter were obliterated by a Katyusha rocket from a Soviet rocket artillery truck.

Frank Corelli watched the report on the TV in the darkened room through his one good eye. His other eye was swollen shut. Standing behind him was that same group of Metroville soldiers and civilians that had gotten a hold of him beforehand.

"Westburg was my home…" One soldier said, kicking Frank in the sides. He doubled over, certain at least one rib was broken.

"How does it feel to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of your fellow citizens traitor?" Lt. Stewart asked as he walked in a circle around the chair Frank was handcuffed to. The other soldiers and civilians either watched the TV, faces and voices thick with emotion as they watched the news reports or circled Frank's chair like sharks circling prey.

"How much did the Russians pay you to betray us?" A soldier asked, as he leveled his rifle at Frank's head.

Stewart nodded as the soldier flicked the safety off his rifle, "It wasn't worth your life though…" The soldier said, upon the officer's approval.

The soldier squeezed the trigger on his rifle as Frank expected the reverberating thunder to herald his imminent death. _I'll never see Emily again…_

Click. The rifle clicked on an empty chamber. "If you don't tell us anything, it'll be a real bullet next time." The soldier said, as he pulled back the charging handle on his Steyr AUG rifle.

"I don't work for the Russians!" Frank replied.

"Then explain this satellite phone, 'businessman'." Another interrogator sneered.

"ACME." Frank replied, "I work for ACME…"

_Hopefully I've delayed my death another few hours. _Frank thought. _As long as they don't find out I'm a C5 Teleportation System tech, I'll be fine…_

"Now this should be very interesting…" Stewart said, a very predatory expression on his face.

---

TBC

1.See Relocated, Chapters 5 and 6


	4. Towards the Station

Towards the Station

Disclaimer: Same as before…

---

Ted gave Paige a semi-quick kiss as he walked into the kitchen of the Halliwell house with Klondike in tow.

"Somebody's missed me." Paige replied.

"Woo woo woo woo woo woo…" Klondike replied.

"I see a certain gray furred, wooing menace is back in the house." Piper replied, "Try not to bring him here when he's shedding. There's fur all over the place."

"Woo woo woo woo woo." Klondike wooed.

"Quiet you." Piper replied.

"What brings you here?" Paige asked, "Business or pleasure."

"The former, though I wouldn't mind a heavy dose of the latter." Ted replied, grinning.

"Woo woo woo woo woo."

"Somebody's chaperoning you, Mister." Paige replied before leaning towards Ted, whispering in his ear, "I think tomorrow night will be the best time for the latter."

"Hmm, I look forward to it." Ted replied.

"Woo woo…" Klondike said.

"I have a question of the magical variety." Ted replied, "Do you know about any demons that can send people into other dimensions?"

"Damien." Paige replied, "Last year he sent Piper and Leo into the Ghostly Plane, making us believe that they were dead."

"OK, my second question is, would he work with Syndrome? I ask because a bunch of our teammates, the Incredibles, and X-men disappeared without a trace when we raided one of his bases." Ted replied.

"Hmm, let's go ask Leo." Paige began.

"I'M NOT LISTENING!" Phoebe shouted.

"More Coyote issues?" Ted asked.

"Apparently they wanted to bug Phoebe extra hard this time." Paige replied.

"Hmm, I just had a crazy idea." Ted replied.

"Woo woo woo woo woo!"

" KLONDIKE! COME BACK HERE WITH WYATT'S BOTTLE!!!" Piper shouted as she chased the Sibe around the house with a broom.

"What would that be?" Paige asked.

"Well, those coyotes that bug Phoebe also bug Lance. Maybe we could ask them if they know where Lance, and thus everyone else are." Ted replied.

"You're right, that is a crazy idea." Paige replied.

"Why not? They always bug Lance…" Ted replied.

"Will you three stop singing River of Dreams, I'm sick of your Billy Joel marathon!" Phoebe shouted at the air.

"Phoebe isn't exactly in the mood to chat with them right now." Paige replied.

"Mood or not, we need that information." Ted replied.

"Phoebe isn't exactly in a chatting mood." Paige replied.

"OK, maybe we should talk to the Coyotes." Ted replied.

"Ted, the last idea was crazy. This one was just plain insane." Paige replied.

"Since when do you start sounding like Roadblock?" Ted asked.

"Since I've been hanging around the Pit too long." Paige replied, "Anyway, if you think Piper's stressed now…"

"Woo woo woo woo woo!"

" KLONDIKE GET YOUR HAIRY PAWS OFF OF MY COUNTER!" Piper shouted, "AAGGH! GIVE ME BACK THAT SANDWICH!!!"

"If those three set foot in the house again, Piper's going to have a heart attack." Paige replied.

"Well, we have to figure out where Lance, and the others, is." Ted replied, "Our only alternative is to ask Phoebe, the others' lives are at stake."

"We'll ask Phoebe first. If we have to, we'll release _ONE _coyote." Paige replied.

"Phoebe," Ted asked, as Phoebe headed downstairs with her keys and purse, "Can we ask a favor from you?"

"As long as it doesn't involve coyotes, yes." Phoebe replied.

"Uhm, actually it kinda does." Ted replied.

"What's going on?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, Lance, Roadblock, Cover Girl, Shipwreck and a lot of other members of my team have disappeared. We only know Syndrome caused it somehow." Ted replied.

"What does this have to do with the Coyotes currently driving me insane?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, they almost always know where Lance is…" Ted replied.

"I'll ask them." Phoebe replied, "Hey you three mongrels, where is Lance?"

"Mongrels, why I am insulted?" Trickery said.

"Yeah, we have more class than that." Mischief replied.

"You could've fooled me." Phoebe replied sarcastically, "So where's Lance?"

"We know exactly where he is, but could you release us, perchance?" Trickery asked.

"Forget it!" Phoebe shouted.

"But we don't have anyone else to annoy." Guile complained.

"Yeah, the Elders haven't been much fun lately. We wanna serenade more people." Mischief replied.

"There is no way I'm releasing you three into San Francisco to create havoc, chaos, and destruction visible in Orange County." Phoebe replied.

"We need that information, Phoebe." Ted replied.

"Forget it!" Phoebe replied, "I've got a column due, Elise is breathing down my neck, and three insane coyotes serenading me with novelty Christmas carols. I especially don't want to hear their novelty version of Silver Bells…"

Phoebe stormed out of the house. "Great." Ted replied.

"We can release one Coyote, and then catch and interrogate him." Paige replied, leading Ted into the attic.

"Now whose talking crazy, and besides Piper will kill us if we release one of them." Ted replied.

"As you said, Ted, it's our only option." Paige replied, "_Creature of another plane. Cause of Phoebe's woes and pain. Invisible for you and I. Let you be seen by the naked eye." _

"I'm baaaaacckk…" The Coyote said.

"Where's Lance?" Paige demanded, "And before you can even think about it, the door is barricaded, and there's only one way down…"

"Well, it seems that I'm caught." The Coyote said, "However there is one flaw in your plan…The window wasn't barricaded!"

The Coyote somersaulted out the window before Paige or Ted could react. "Oh no." Ted replied.

"Yeah. There's a Coyote with super speed, a warped sense of humor, and a serious mischief streak on the loose here in San Francisco." Paige replied.

"You do realize Piper can't get wind of this." Ted replied.

"Exactly." Paige replied.

"Woo woo woo woo woo woo woo!"

" KLONDIKE COME BACK HERE WITH THAT CHEESE WHEEL!" Piper shouted.

"Besides she seems to have her hands full with Klondike right now." Ted replied.

"Woo woo woo woo woo."

"So we're going to have to deal with Lance's imaginary enemy on the rampage through San Francisco and somehow keep Piper from finding out…" Paige replied.

"Well Klondike seems to be handling that piece of the puzzle." Ted replied as the Coyote was currently ballet dancing Swan Lake through the neighborhood.

"Woo woo woo woo woo."

" KLONDIKE DON'T YOU DARE DRAG THE CONTENTS OF THAT DRAWER INTO THE LAWN!" Piper shouted.

"Woo woo woo woo woo woo." Klondike carried Piper's nightgown into the front lawn and tossed it onto the walk.

The Coyote bounded away with several pissed off neighbors chasing him with hammers, rakes, and assorted sharp objects. They ran around a corner by the time Piper stormed outside chasing Klondike all over the lawn.

"Woo woo woo woo woo."

Paige was already on her cell phone, "Darryl, yeah it's Paige."

"What's going on?" Darryl asked on the other side of the line.

"There's a coyote on the loose in the neighborhood." Paige replied.

"Shouldn't you call animal control and…Oh no, not **_THAT_** Coyote." Darryl replied.

"Yes, that Coyote." Paige replied, "Please try and contain it, and try not to involve Piper."

"Hold on Paige, I've got another call…" An extremely harried Darryl replied.

Ted grabbed his jacket and said, "It looks like we're on our own for this one."

---

Alan Fielder aimed the shotgun at the locked door, until Colossus armored up, and gestured him aside with one massive hand. He tore the door off its hinges.

"Bloody wonderful." Fielder grunted, aiming the shotgun into the church.

"And speak of the devil..." Roadblock began, aiming his machinegun. A trio of Soldier Heartless were roaming amidst the pews.

"Wait!" Fielder shouted, "Those bullets will go through the drywall. There could be people hiding back there."

Fielder aimed the shotgun at the nearest one, squeezing off a round, blowing a hole the size of a work light through the creature's chest. He chambered a second round into the shotgun just as Bobby froze the second in place with a burst of ice. The creature simply broke free, in time for Fielder to blast it just beneath the chin with another shotgun blast. The third creature charged right into Colossus who tackled it and snapped its neck with one hard twist.

There were two doors at the end of the chapel, one to the left and one to the right. Roadblock aimed his weapon at the door as Fielder headed over to open it, if anything hostile was behind the door, it would be facing several hundred rounds of 7.62 mm linked ammunition.

Fielder flung the door open just as three gray humanoid creatures, roughly the height of Elastigirl appeared. Their arms stretched out in long, whiplike appendages towards the group. Roadblock opened fire, tearing into the creatures with multiple thirty caliber rounds. The three Nobodies shook under the impact of the bullets.

Emily curled herself as tightly as she possibly could when she heard the machinegun open up. The bullets were going through the wall as if it wasn't there, and any second now she expected a high velocity lead slug to tear into her body, either killing her immediately or wounding her till she bled out. At that point she wasn't sure which would be worse.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" came a shout. _Alan? Oh God, you're alive. Is Frank with you? _Emily thought.

Emily headed for the door of the church office, where she'd stayed hidden, especially after hearing the weird grey creatures outside, the strange really flexible monsters. She saw three people who had been turned into Heartless and almost immediately after, those strange, utterly flexible monsters had appeared where their bodies had once lain. And they started to attack the locked door of the church office.

Roadblock and Fielder aimed their guns at the Church office door when a slender woman with dark brown hair ran out of the room. "Emily!?" Alan shouted, "Are you alright?"

"A little shaken, especially when tall dark and machine gun toting over there opened up." Emily replied.

"I did save your life." Roadblock replied, "So there's no need for all this strife."

"Alan," Emily replied, "Is Frank with you?"

"No," Fielder replied, "I thought he'd be with you."

"I haven't seen him…" Emily replied, "As soon as all this started I headed straight for the Church."

"He last said he was at the library." Alan replied.

"Who are these people?" Emily asked.

"They're friendlies, as far as I can tell." Alan replied, "Mr. Machinegun's name is Roadblock, the big Russian bloke's name is Colossus, but his mates call him Pitor, the skinny bloke's name is Iceman, or Bobby, and the littlest's name is Multiple, or Jamie."

"So are they Supers?" Emily asked, looking at the strange uniforms the X-men wore.

"That's kind of tough to determine." Alan replied, as he spoke the Rhodesian loaded more shells into his shotgun, "They seem to not be from around here, though they know Elastigirl and Speedy."

"So they're from another world?" Emily asked.

"As far as I can tell, yes." Alan replied, "We should get moving."

"Wait." Emily replied, she walked back into the Church Office with Alan in tow, she reached for a briefcase with a shoulder strap and slung it.

"So who are you guys, if I may ask? It seems you're here on an assigned task." Roadblock replied.

"He talks in rhyme." Alan replied.

"So I heard." Emily quipped.

Emily and Alan traded glances, and Alan nodded. "We work for ACME, I'm sure you're…"

"Let's just say we know a couple of operatives." Roadblock said, "The name Bluey Truscott sound familiar…"

"He was a member of my unit in SOG." Fielder replied.

"Look as much as I'm enjoying this 'let's meet again and get to know each other' moment, we should get the hell out of here." Bobby began. Outside the sounds of a raging gun battle could be heard.

"Agreed." Alan said.

"Alan, wait." Emily replied.

"What?" Alan asked.

"We can't go back out that way." Emily replied, indicating the sound.

"But the Russians and who knows who else are getting closer." Bobby began.

"Guys…" Multiple said.

"Not now, Multiple." Colossus began.

"We can't go out the back way either." Emily added, "The Russians are right outside."

"Guys…What about the basement?" Multiple said, "There could be a cellar or secret passage or something."

"It's worth a shot." Roadblock replied.

The group moved down out of the church, through the basement, killing the occasional Heartless that they encountered before they exited the church through some cellar doors into an alley where they encountered the others.

---

_"The wolves' tactics are an enormous collection of various tricks and combinations, a mixture of cunning and strength, confusing maneuvers and sudden attacks.." _– Viktor Suvorov.

Igor Voronezh switched the magazine of his AK-74 as he stood amidst shattered stacks in the library. Several Heartless had appeared suddenly and killed the small group manning this position, and Lieutenant Andropov diverted the patrol to retaking the building.

Grenades had been flung into each room, followed by bursts of gunfire before the _spetsnaz _men entered to finish off whatever still survived in the room.

"Sir," Andropov could be heard speaking through the radio, "Library retaken."

The smoke and ash mingled with the scent of blood and decay in the room as Andropov wrinkled his nose. The room had been torn apart by grenade blasts and weapons fired on full automatic, several of the volumes on the shelves were blood spattered, shot up, and at least partially burned.

CRACK!

"Arkady's at target practice again." Voronezh remarked, referring to one of the snipers in the unit, Arkady Illyanov, who had stationed himself in the library's clock tower.

---

"Whoa, what happened here, Custer's Last Stand?" Bobby asked.

Lying in the route to the library lay the corpses of several Heartless, all of them had been shot through the head or neck. Shipwreck noticed that a large number of them lay in roughly the same area, suggesting that a well trained sniper had picked them off from a fixed distance.

Alan Fielder realized this at roughly the same instant. "Get down!"

The group ducked behind what cover they could find. At about the same time, a man ran out into the street. Judging by his white coat, yellow shirt and brown slacks they figured he was a scientist or doctor of some kind. Little did the scientist realize he was being stalked.

Arkady Illyanov tracked the running man through the Dragunov SVD's PSO-1 telescopic sights. It was no question, hitting this man from one hundred and twenty-five meters was going to be easy. He put the crosshairs onto the forehead of the running scientist…

Howard King barreled out of the Church where he'd been hiding, running past the group of people, one of which he recognized as Emily, the nice lady from Church. He did consider asking her out, except for the ring on her finger…

"Howard!" Emily shouted, "Get down there's a…"

Illyanov put the crosshairs onto the man's belly. It appeared that he might have contact with more Metroville scientists. He could lure more of them into his crosshairs. Illyanov squeezed the trigger slowly, smoothly, making small corrections when the man moved.

CRACK!

Howard King fell to the ground, clutching his belly, screaming in pain. "Damn it! Where'd that come from?" Shipwreck asked.

Roadblock fired his M240G at the area in front of him, sweeping in an arc.

"We've got to help him!" Emily said, grabbing Fielder's arm.

"That's what this son of bitch wants!" Fielder replied.

"Kurt? No! Wait!" Kitty shouted.

Kurt teleported to the side of the wounded man, determined to grab onto him and port him back to the others. What he didn't know was that the Russian sniper had a bead on him.

Arkady Illyanov barely registered the surprise when he saw a target pop up beside the man he'd deliberately wounded. He took a quick aim and squeezed the trigger, applying pressure smoothly and evenly, making slight adjustments before the weapon bucked in his hands. CRACK!

Kurt Wagner felt like a sledge hammer suddenly drove a white-hot spike into his chest. He fell to the ground as the 7.62x54R mm round tore into his chest. The shock was such that he couldn't even think of teleporting anywhere.

"KURT!" Kitty yelped.

Kurt lay on the ground, blood oozing from the hole ripped into his chest by the Russian sniper's bullet. His breath came in ragged gasps, the bullet had punctured his right lung, and thus collapsed it.

From somewhere underground several Shadow Heartless appeared, to harvest both Howard and Kurt's hearts.

"I've got an idea." Roadblock said, "I'll shoot up those Heartless. Pietro, Dash, you guys rush this sniper."

_Targets. _Illyanov thought grimly as he drew a beat on the first of the Heartless, squeezing the trigger. CRACK!

A single bullet tore into the head of the leading Heartless, causing it to fall to the earth. At almost the same moment the other Heartless began falling like wheat before Roadblock's machinegun.

"I've got a better idea." Lance began and his eyes rolled into his head.

A large wall of earth and rock appeared between Kurt and the other wounded man as yet another bullet cracked downward. This last bullet from the hidden Russian sniper tore into the head of Howard King, killing him instantly.

Dash and Pietro rushed over to Kurt, running at high speed to where the others were hiding. "Who has a first aid kit?" Emily asked.

"Here." Elastigirl said, handing Emily a kit.

"He's got a sucking chest wound." Emily said, "Turn him on his wounded side."

Dash and Pietro complied and Emily took a pressure bandage and some medical tape and taped the exit hole first on all four sides of the square. "Now put him on his back." Emily replied.

Emily then put another pressure bandage on the entrance hole, and taped three sides of it, making a release valve for air in the collapsed lung.

"Is there a hospital here?" Scott asked.

"Yes." Emily replied.

"We've gotta get Kurt there." Scott replied.

"I'm no doctor." Emily replied.

"But there could be doctors at the hospital." Elastigirl replied.

"If the Russians haven't killed them." Shipwreck replied.

"We've got to get off this world, and our Mass Device watches aren't working." Cover Girl replied.

"Mass Device?" Emily asked.

"It's like our C5 technology." Alan replied, "Wait a second, we can use the C5 to get them out of here."

"Unfortunately neither of us is a C5 tech." Emily replied, and sadly fingering her engagement ring said, "Frank is."

"We'll find him." Alan replied, "I promise we will."

"But where is he?" Emily asked.

"If he was captured by Metroville forces he'd be at the prison." Alan replied, "That's where I'd first look."

"Then it's to the prison we must head, to help save Emily's beloved." Roadblock commented.

"We're gonna need to split up." Shipwreck remarked, "Go in three groups, because if we get held up at the hospital, we can at least get someone to help Frank."

"Good call." Lance said, "So at least once in a while you can come up with a good idea, Shipwreck."

"It's true, I have my genius moments and…HEY!" Shipwreck replied.

"Alright, we'll split up. Three routes, three groups." Alan suggested.

"We've got Russians in the library." Cover Girl replied, "So we'll have our strongest fighters go through there. That means me, Shipwreck, Colossus, and Xi will go through there."

"Count me in." Emily replied.

"You aren't even armed." Cover Girl observed.

"I'll go too." Fielder replied, loading more rounds into his shotgun.

"What's the other route?" Cyclops asked.

"The video arcade west of the library." Alan replied.

"We'll need your fastest people there, it's the quickest way to the prison, because the guards use it for their entertainment." Emily replied.

"That's a job for the Dash."

"Not so fast, slowpoke. Only true speedsters need apply." Pietro said arrogantly.

"Dash, you and Pietro are both going, with me." Elastigirl said.

"Katya, it will be the safest route, since it is the fastest. Go there with Multiple." Colossus began.

"I can take care of myself, Pitor!" Kitty protested, "I'm not a helpless damsel in distress."

Avalanche couldn't help but chuckle at the situation. "I guess I'll tag along, Russkie."

"Great, even in a war zone, Lance the Lovelorn strikes again." Pietro quipped.

"Iceman, you're with me, we'll take Kurt to the hospital." Cyclops said.

The groups split up, heading for their respective routes...

---

Meanwhile, Frank Corelli was having some problems of his own. "So what do you do for ACME?" Lt. Stewart asked.

"I'm a communication's expert." Frank replied. _They can't have the C5 technology. I can't let it fall into their hands. _

"That would explain the phone. Tell me, do you know anything about the C5 System?" Frank replied.

"No." Frank replied.

Stewart nodded, and a soldier threw a switch, closing the circuit on the car battery, with the wires clamped to Frank's body in different places.

Frank let out a scream of agony as electricity coursed into his body. "I don't know anything about the C5 System." Frank protested.

"So you don't work for ACME and you are spying for the Russians." Stewart asked.

"No." Frank replied.

"I must admit, traitor, the ACME cover story was original. So is it the KGB or the GRU you work for?" Stewart asked.

"None of them…" Frank said, weakly.

"Liar!" a soldier shouted, hitting Frank in the inner thigh with the butt of his rifle.

"So I suppose that this engagement ring is part of your cover." Lt. Stewart said, holding up the ring between his fingers, "Or is your 'fiancée' really your contact with the GRU?"

"What!? No! She's my fiancée." Frank replied, compelled to protect Emily's honor, even though he was being interrogated.

"Well, what's her name then?" Lt. Stewart said.

"I…I…" Frank stammered, he didn't want to compromise his fellow case officer, and wife to be, and the ACME operation here in Metroville.

Stewart nodded and the soldier nearest Frank struck him in the head with his rifle stock. Frank tasted blood and probed his mouth with his tongue, hoping no teeth had been loosened as he saw stars.

"What's her name?" Stewart said, as he reached over for a pair of garden sheers, "His hand."

The soldier complied and Stewart added, "Hold out his ring finger…"

"Emily!" Frank declared, tears streaming down his face as the soldier bent his ring finger back and Stewart positioned the garden sheers onto his finger, prepared to sever it.

"Ah. So her name is Emily. Now why does that name sound so familiar?" Stewart asked.

"There was a parishioner in the church by that name." the soldier holding Frank's finger up said.

"And I have seen a young woman with this man." Another soldier said.

"Bring her in for questioning." Stewart said, "Let go of his hand."

_Alan Fielder, please get Emily out of here, ASAP. _Frank thought as Stewart reached into a drawer. A syringe with a blackish purple liquid in it was in his hand.

"I wonder how this 'Emily' will feel when her 'fiancé' is turned into a Heartless…" Stewart replied, as he held the vaccine menacingly before Frank's eyes.

Frank struggled fruitlessly against the handcuffs as Stewart grabbed his forearm and jammed the needle in, injecting the chemical. Frank felt his heart compress.

"That was a small dose. It takes several applied doses of the serum to create a Heartless." Stewart said, "But by the time your fiancé finds you, you'll be almost entirely transformed…"

Frank was to busy coughing and gagging to reply, as he felt like a mailed fist crushed both heart and lungs…

----

TBC…


	5. Catching the Train

1Catching the Train

Disclaimer: Same as before…

---

The Library was a mess. That much was true. It was all Emily Kinnian could do not to throw up. Several dead Metroville policemen and soldiers lay amongst the shattered stacks. "_Spetsnaz_, a mean lot of blokes." Alan Fielder observed, "They're the ones responsible for this."

"Looks like the Metroville cops were trying to organize a defensive stronghold." Cover Girl remarked.

As they passed by another shattered door, Emily indicated that this lead towards the back way of the library.

Shipwreck angrily commented, "Bastards. Looks like the Russians hit this area, giving the doors all the same treatment...shotgun blast to the door, possibly hit it with a battering ram, tossed grenades inside and then fired bursts of gunfire inside. I don't know who's worse, Syndrome's troops or these Soviets that are fighting them."

"Let's keep going guys, before more Heartless around here rise." Roadblock commented.

"Roadblock's right." Xi remarked, "Both of them are our enemies."

Fielder burst through the door first, hooking right as Shipwreck crossed left. Both men aimed their weapons as they swept the room and from the ceiling a Neoshadow lept towards the doorway, towards Emily. Fielder opened fire with the shotgun as Shipwreck fired his twin Desert Eagles repeatedly, the buckshot and .50 caliber rounds nearly tore the Heartless into shreds, splattering Emily with its black blood.

For several seconds Emily stood there, horrified. Could that thing that Shipwreck and Alan just blew away have been Frank?

"Come on...lets go." Colossus said, giving Emily a nudge with a massive hand.

There was a closed door up ahead and Shipwreck tried the handle. Locked. Fielder positioned himself at the hinges, aiming the shotgun. Colossus rolled his eyes, armored up, and tore the door off its hinges. The group entered a battle amongst the stacks.

Gunfire echoed loudly as a trio of Russian soldiers were gunning down a pair of running Metroville Police Department officers who had barricaded themselves inside the library. From behind the Russians came a large Heartless, even more massive than Colossus in his armored form. The creature breathed in a breath of air and belched fire into the Russians.

Screams and the sudden odor of incinerated flesh filled the air as the trio of burning Soviet soldiers ran around the place. One of them rolled along the ground trying to extinguish the flames. The Heartless crushed his head with it's massive foot.

The other two leapt out the nearby window, falling, on fire, into the alley. The Heartless spotted the group just then and Colossus hurled himself in front of the creature as it belched fire. He walked forward, feeling the metal skin of his body start to heat up, as though it were being touched with an acetylene torch. He continued to advance despite the searing heat and flung himself into the monster, grappling with it.

The creature was strong, and powerful as it wrestled against Pitor and it took almost every ounce of his own considerable strength and his knowledge of _sambo _to try and defeat the thing. He rolled onto his back and rolled backwards, throwing the creature using his legs and hips and sending it flying out the window.

Pitor returned to his normal form, his skin sporting several burns. Immediately Emily ran to his side, trying to treat the wounds. "Wait. We have to get out of this library first..."

"There's the back exit..." Emily said, and was about to head over for it when the sound of a gun battle outside could be heard.

"Downstairs! To the basement!" Fielder shouted over the din.

"Right behind you!" Shipwreck shouted as they ran downstairs.

"Wait, what's down there?" Roadblock shouted.

"The sewer system. We can get out through there." Fielder replied.

The group ran downstairs, making it into the basement just as the Russians blew down another door with a breaching charge and burst inside, fanning out.

As they ran down the stairs, deeper into the basement of the building, Shipwreck found the manhole into the sewer system.

"Hey, what's this? " Xi asked, grabbing a few documents that were strewn near the manhole.

"We don't have time to read it now." Fielder replied, as he kept his shotgun aimed back the way they had come.

"He's right, you know. First thing we've got to do is go..." Roadblock replied.

Cover Girl went down first, followed by Shipwreck, then Emily, Xi, Fielder and then Roadblock. As soon as Fielder slid the manhole cover back over the top of the ladder and rejoined the group Shipwreck turned on a flashlight.

The file read:

**Metroville Confidential Document FOR YOUR EYES ONLY -**

**This file contains the data for the different breeds of Heartless that exist. Although they have not been confirmed yet, there may be Heartless other than the ones listed below. The data for those will be filed when it is ready. **

**HEARTLESS FILE #1: Shadow - Humans who surrender to the darkness within their hearts, (the procedure can be chemically induced). As they have lost their hearts they wander around on their instinct to capture new Hearts. Useful for massive attacks against Soviet positions. **

**HEARTLESS FILE #2: Neo-shadow – Stronger and more agile than the Shadow, the Neoshadow is still relatively easy to kill, but harder to target due to their speed. They have been observed using stealth attacks, especially in dark alleys or heavily wooded areas and are generally more active at night than in the day time. Especially effective against **_**spetsnaz **_**infiltrations. **

**Heartless FILE #3: Soldier Heartless – Artificially created Heartless formed using chemical agent B-3. More resistant to battle damage than Shadows, but cheaper to produce than Neo-Shadows, thus using them for mass suicide attacks on Soviet positions is an option. They excel in close quarter battle situations where their armor allows them to take quite a few hits from small arms fire and shrapnel. **

**Heartless FILE #4: Search Ghost – Intelligence reveals that the Soviets will heavily utilize **_**spetsnaz**_** and other highly trained sabotage and terrorist formations before any major military actions. The highly tuned senses of the Search Ghost provide a sensory capability far superior to that of the dog's, in addition to the five basic senses, Search Ghosts seem to possess a sixth sense that allows them to detect human beings at far greater ranges than even the sharpest bloodhound. **

**Heartless FILE #5: Bandit - Fast and agile, the sword wielding bandit is quick enough to take advantage of the lull in reloading automatic weapons. Their jumping abilities are nearly unlimited and they are excellent at ambushes. It is best to leave them in the rear of Soviet occupied areas and allow them to cause havoc.**

**Heartless FILE #6: Large Body - One of the strongest forms of Heartless yet created. It can absorb massive quantities of small arms fire and even withstand direct hits from crew served weapons such as the Plamya belt fed grenade launchers. Only explosive artillery, such as the RPG-7, stands any chance of even disabling one with one shot. Experimental data in preliminary engagements with the Russians shows that a Large Body is about as hard to kill as a main battle tank. **

**Heartless FILE #7: Prototype – They are not yet complete, but logically speaking, we can create and mass produce more ferocious Heartless by adding certain materials during the process of cultivating Large Body genes. However; there is one problem... -**

"What's all this?" Shipwreck replied.

"Characteristics of the different sorts of Heartless." Emily replied.

"So your saying these things are mass produced?" Shipwreck replied, feeling a slight chill.

"As far as we know, yes." Emily replied.

"There have been a few intelligence reports about something called the Serum, down in Mexico on our world." Cover Girl said.

"Apparently the process of making these other, stronger Heartless is a bit more involved." Emily replied.

---

From over the horizon came several small boats, fast boats. Aboard them was a detachment of Russian Marines, sent to reinforce the _spetsnaz _fighters that had already taken much of the island.

Their faces were blackened, and they clutched AK-74 rifles in their hands. Some carried the heavier RPK and PKM light machineguns and there was a smattering of SVD sniper rifles in the batch.

"_Davai! Davai!" _came the shout from their commander as they scrambled onto the beach, past the shot up compound and towards the town, reinforcing their comrades fighting their way through stiffening Metroville resistance.

---

Kurt groaned painfully as Kitty and Bobby supported him between them. Cyclops raised a hand, signalling them to stop. A pair of Russian soldiers were battering down a door before tossing grenades into the room and then firing bursts of fire from their Kalashnikov rifles before crashing inside it.

They had gotten into the hospital unseen not a moment too soon. The sounds of gunfire could be heard outside. A group of Metroville defenders were duking it out with another group of Soviet troops.

The hospital wasn't any safer. From upstairs and from the west wing Kitty could hear the sounds of doors being knocked down, grenades being flung inside, and bursts of gunfire being fired inside.

At that moment the two Russian soldiers burst out of the room they had just cleared. Bobby instantly turned the temperature of the room Arctic as he put up a barrier of ice. Bullets smacked against the ice.

Cyclops blew down a door just in time to come face to face with a terrified looking Metroville Policeman. "Get back! Don't come any closer!" He shouted.

"We don't want any trouble, we're just trying to find help for our friend." Cyclops replied, indicating Kurt.

"You're not gonna find any. The Russians are fucking killing us left and right." The policeman replied, his Glock aimed straight at the group.

The sound of a grenade exploding plus a hail of bullets filled the room. A strangled cry followed by a single bullet followed. Another explosion echoed with a roar that hurt even Kitty's bruised eardrums. Shouts in English and the sounds of more gunfire filled the area as a squad of Lt. Stewart's improvised militia jumped the attacking Russians with a grenade and automatic fire.

A long fusillade of automatic fire sounded as another squad of Russians burst into the room like sharks attacking bait fish.

"Traitors! Die!" The policeman replied, and began to squeeze the trigger on his Glock. Cyclops struck him full in the chest with a burst of laser energy.

For several long moments Cyclops stared at the corpse of the Metroville Policeman he had just killed.

"Scott. Come on." Kitty said, concern etching her delicate features as the sound of fighting got closer.

"Dude! We gotta run! The Russkies are getting close." Bobby added.

Kurt groaned painfully. Scott stood frozen. Another blast sounded, closer this time. A grenade had been thrown from upstairs right at the Russians attacking the hospital. The sound of helicopters flying overhead could be heard.

---

The helicopters flew through the night, before coming to a hover over Sheena Island. Squads of heavily armed troopers in black uniforms rappelled down. "The _spetsnaz _have taken over ninety percent of the island. Destroy them." came the command from their leader.

---

The sound of the helicopters and the sounds of landing troops finally jarred Scott out of his freeze. He hadn't intended to kill the Metroville cop, he just wanted to protect the others, he should have had more control...

Another gun battle sounded, snapping Scott out of his reverie. The Soviets were using an explosive charge to blast Iceman's ice wall down.

Kitty promptly grabbed a hold of Scott and shouted, "Follow me guys!"

She began to phase through walls, through rooms where she saw raw carnage. She passed into one room where three Russian Marines were firing single shots into the heads of bodies of Heartless and Metroville defenders alike.

One Russian saw the group phasing through the wall and turned to face them. Shadowcat promptly phased through him and the Russian soldier felt like he had jammed a finger into an electrical socket. He hit the ground, stunned for a few moments, but otherwise unharmed. Bullets smacked after the fleeing group, punching massive holes in the wall.

Kitty stopped when they went into an operating room. She and Bobby gently set Kurt down onto the table as they searched around for various medical supplies.

"Hang in there Kurt." Kitty said, as she heard him groan feebly. Despite the first aid training she had received at the Institute she knew that Kurt's best chance was to be evacuated, _fast. _

"What's this?" Bobby said.

"We don't have time to read right now, Bobby." Scott snapped impatiently before he looked closely at the document.

"What the hell?" Scott began as he read...

**Medical charts of the patients -**

**Name: William J Smith **

**Sex: Male **

**Age: 17 **

**Height: 181cm **

**Weight: 72kg **

**Physical condition: Good **

**Mental condition: Languid **

**Medicine: Tranquilizer 10mg in soup for every breakfast. Hallucinogen 5mg in bread for every dinner.**

**Name: Jennifer Campbell **

**Sex: Female **

**Age: 18 **

**Height: 165cm **

**Weight: 47kg **

**Physical condition: Good **

**Mental condition: Unstable **

**Medicine: Since she has been confined for a long time, she has become very suspicious. Putting drugs in her meals is ineffective, as she rarely eats. It would be best to put the tranquilizer into her drinking water. **

**[This entry has a large REMOVED stamp over it **

**Name: Ryoji Yokota **

**Sex: Male**

**Age: 18 **

**Height: 177cm **

**Weight: 50kg **

**Physical condition: According to the results of an MRI, a vein tumor was found at his cerebellum. Worthless as a product.**

**Name: Karelina Albachakov **

**Sex: Female **

**Age: 17**

**Height: 155cm **

**Weight: 43kg **

**Physical condition: Good **

**Mental condition: Good **

**Medicine: Tranquilizer 10mg in soup for every breakfast**.

"These kids sounded like they were experimental subjects. But subjects for what?" Kitty replied.

"I don't know, but I'm sure it has something to do with all those Heartless running around the town..." Scott replied.

Another grenade exploded downstairs, with a roar that jarred the team's bruised eardrums. Kurt groaned painfully as Kitty began to use the first aid techniques they'd practiced under instruction at the Manor.

"We can't get out through the back way." Bobby said as he peeked out the nearest window for a brief instant. A burst of gunfire immediately shattered the glass as a Russian Marine in the street emptied a magazine from his AK-74 into the thing.

"The sewer system," Scott replied, "I think there was a manhole cover downstairs."

"You want us to go back through all that?" Bobby asked.

Another grenade exploded followed by a fusillade of gunfire as the Russians broke down yet another door and attacked the inside.

---

Elastigirl opened the door of the Arcade and promptly threw herself flat on the ground as a Russian soldier standing in the room fired a burst of fire from his AK-74. The Russian's body shook violently as burst of fire from a Steyr assault rile struck home.

Lance's eyes rolled into his head as he called upon the forces of the ground beneath his feet. Two soldiers dressed in gray and black BDUs, with ski masks and night vision goggles fell to the ground and both were crushed by a pipe that fell from the ceiling.

The group burst into the Arcade until they reached a back room. Dash announced, "I'm the fastest, I'll draw their fire..."

"Hah, you're so slow that you'll catch a bullet," Pietro replied.

"Will not!"

"Will to."

"Will not."

"Will to."

"Willnotwillnotwillnot...times a gazillion..." Dash replied.

"Willtowilltowilltowillto...time a double gazillion..." Pietro replied.

"Willnotwillnotwillnow...times infinity! Ha ha nothing beats infinity!"

"KNOCK IT OFF YOU MORONS!" Lance shouted, "You're starting to sound worst than those three coyotes!!!"

"Lance we don't have time for you to go psychotic! Pull yourself together!" Elastigirl shouted. The sounds of Russians and Metroville Shock Troopers having a firefight in the nearby alley echoed loudly.

Dash burst into the door, with Pietro a millisecond behind him.

"Kill them!" A Metroville Shock Trooper said.

"Woohoo! Woohoo! Woohoo!" Pietro said as he ran rings around several Metroville Shock Troops.

"What's under there?" Dash asked the team leader.

"Under where?" The confused man replied.

"Exactly." Dash replied and gave him a very painful wedgie.

Meanwhile Pietro was running faster and faster in circles around the group, generating tornado force winds. Dash joined in the circle and sent the Metroville troopers flying into each other and the nearest walls and game consoles like popcorn kernels in a popcorn machine.

"Come on guys, go go go go go!!!" Pietro shouted, as the Metroville shock troops all lay unconscious on the ground.

"Wow. Your super speed and annoying tendencies finally came in handy Quicksilver." Avalanche quipped, and glancing at one particularly hefty trooper's underwear he continued, "I didn't know they made lace thongs that size..."

"Lance, quit fantasizing about Kitty's underwear. I know she wears the same size underwear but...URK!!!" Pietro began as Lance grabbed him by the neck and started to shake the ground.

"Lance! We don't have time for you to go psychotic!" Multiple yelled.

"Will you two cut it out!!" Elastigirl said, "In case you haven't noticed, you've got Russians on one side and Syndrome's goons on the other. Now quit fighting and shaking the earth..."

As if to emphasize her point a Russian anti-tank rocket exploded just outside the back entrance of the Arcade.

"Mom, look." Dash said, "I think Lance's little fit got us a way out."

Dash pointed at a manhole cover that had been shaken free of its access. "Let's go, come on, before the Russians find us!" Dash shouted.

"Air..." Pietro gasped.

"Ahem, Lance..." Elastigirl began.

Lance let go of Pietro's throat and headed down the ladder.

"Last one in's a rotten egg." Dash shouted as he raced for the hole.

"Oh no you don't! That's not fair! Lance was choking me!!!" Pietro shouted as Dash beat him down the hole.

---

"Stop! Stop! For the love of God stop!" Frank half screamed half gagged as Lieutenant Stewart approached with another hypodermic needle.

Frank futilely tried to pull at his restraints, but there was no give. He couldn't budge an inch, and he saw another clump of his hair fall from his head onto his lap. One of his hands had already turned black, ending in a twisted claw.

"One more shot should do it, and when Emily finds you, she'll be utterly horrified by the state she finds you in." Stewart replied and injected it into him.

Frank let out another scream as two black antennea stood prominently from his head, amidst the areas where patches of his hair had fallen out of his head. It felt like two soldering irons had been shoved through his skull from the inside.

The sound of helicopters flying overhead could be heard. "Your fucked now." Frank half shouted, "That's the cavalry come to kick your asses!"

"Wrong, my friend, that's the Metroville Shock Troops going after those stinking Bolsheviks that hit this island." Stewart replied, "I believe this prison will turn into a battleground, so I must be going..."

Stewart left the chamber, with his two armed guards, leaving Frank alone as he coughed, and gasped, finally expelling a mix of bile, blood, and vomit onto the floor and onto his own clothing. He hoped to God Emily could find him, but wondered what she would think when she saw him...

---

"Were you able to find anything for Kurt?" Kitty asked.

"Not really, there weren't any doctors alive or willing to help out. We found a lot of Russians attacking the hospital." Scott replied.

"Same with the Library." Shipwreck replied.

"At least we came away with this handy field guide. Trying a journey without knowledge is suicide." Roadblock replied.

"And we also know Syndrome was up to some seriously immoral shit." Bobby replied, "Though what it is, I don't know."

Bobby handed Cover Girl the patient chart. "Oh my God. They were experimenting on children?"

All eyes turned to both Alan and Emily. Alan Fielder replied first, "There were rumors, but nothing confirmed."

"I saw a few ragged looking kids being escorted by some very nasty looking guards, but I couldn't confirm anything other than they were here against their will. They did look drugged." Emily replied, "Frank knew more about that. The prison and the commander of this island were his big projects."

Emily looked sad just then and Alan put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Hey, we'll find Frank, don't worry."

"I'm just so worried. I mean we haven't heard from him since the Russians attacked. What if the Russians got him, what if he got snatched by Metroville's security forces, what if he's..." Emily began, not even daring to finish.

"If he's alive I'll find him, I promise." Alan replied.

"You'll have our help as well." Shipwreck said, "We'll get your fiancé back. He's our key off this blasted world...no offense Elastigirl."

"Shipwreck, with Syndrome running our world I can't take offense to your statement." Elastigirl replied.

"Either way, we'll find nothing by yakking. So let's get cracking." Lance replied.

"This way." Fielder said, indicating the path down the tunnels, towards the prison.

Inwardly Emily felt the fear mounting. Would they find Frank? And if so, would they find him alive?

---

"Truscott..." Mr. Incredible began, "This is all your fault."

"My fault?" The Australian demanded, "How did you come to that preposterous conclusion!"

"Since you brought us onto this world," Bob said, "Nothing but chaos, destruction, pirates and Heartless have followed!"

"You can't blame this whole lot on me!" Truscott shouted back.

"My wife and my son are both missing and we have no clue where they are!" Bob shouted back.

"We're doing everything we can to find them. Even contacting some of our agents in the field on your world." Truscott countered, "At great risk to themselves. We lost contact with our three person team on Sheena Island just after Dash and Helen disappeared."

"Dad, come on." Violet said, "You can't blame them for this, they're trying everything to find Mom and Dash. I'm just as scared too."

Bob's hard look softened a little, and he put a steadying hand on Violet's shoulder, saying quietly, "Me too, sweetheart. Me too. I know your mother and brother are both strong people and can handle themselves wherever they are, but I can't help but worry..."

"Remind me to kill Ted when the rest of the team gets back." Low Light grumbled as he stomped into the kitchen.

"What? Why?" Truscott asked.

"It turns out that madcap Canadian Israeli and a certain Halliwell sister just released a certain coyote onto our world." Low Light groaned as he reached into the cupboard looking for some aspirin, "I just got off the phone with Piper, and she sounded like she was about to kill Mountaineer. Somehow I wouldn't blame her...Ow my aching head."

"How'd you hurt your head?" Violet asked, puzzled.

"Let's just say that the space shuttle taking off is quieter than an angry Piper and leave it at that..." Low Light groaned.

"Forget the aspirin, mate, I'd say go for a strong drink." Truscott replied, "I think I know where Shipwreck keeps his stash."

"Lead the way." Low Light replied.

"I'll take double..." Bob replied.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!!! DAD! WAIT TILL MOM GET'S BACK!!!!" Violet shouted as she followed the three adults into Shipwreck's room.

---

"_Ist das nicht ein policeman this." _The Coyote sang, wearing a German peasant girl dress complete with blonde pigtails, and pointing at Agent Sheridan, "_Ja das nicht ein policeman this." _

"_Ist das nicht ein great big fish!" _The Coyote sang swinging an enormous frozen fish, "_Ja das nicht ein great big fish!" _

The Coyote swung the fish and bashed Inspector Sheridan in the head with the fish. "_Policeman this. Great big fish! Oh du Schone! Oh du Schone! Oh du Schone! Schnitzelbank!" _

"_Ist das nicht ein pair of pants!" _The Coyote sang, "_Ja das nicht ein pair of pants…" _

The Coyote sang before yanking off Darryl's trousers. _"Is das underwear from France?" _The Coyote sang, "_Ja das underwear from France." _

"_Pair of pants. Shorts from France. Oh du Schone! Oh du Schone! Oh du Schone! Schnitzelbank!" _The Coyote sang, running around with Darryl's pants in his hands.

Ted and Paige ran inside the precinct to find a scene of absolute madness. "Ted, can you hit that thing?" Paige asked.

"I don't think so." Ted replied, "He keeps outrunning, outmaneuvering or dodging every dart I've fired. Aside from accidentally tranquilizing Phoebe's boss..."

"Do you think we're in over our heads?" Paige said, "I mean we could call Piper to freeze the coyote..."

"If she doesn't blow every capillary in her head first. I mean Klondike causing chaos around the house and now this..." Ted replied.

"Dance the can can can..." The Coyote sang, as he started can can dancing around the precinct with a line of handcuffed suspects.

Darryl Morris ran up to the two, wearing his shirt and tie, but minus his trousers. "Let me guess." Ted replied, "Coyote trouble."

"So you're a psychic now? " Darryl asked, and then turned to Paige, "How did he get on the loose?"

"Let's say that a spell backfired and leave it at that." Paige replied.

"So let me get this straight," Darryl began, "You summoned the most insane, most uncontrollable lunatic in creation to this world...why?"

"You see, it's kind of my fault." Ted replied.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. Are you trying to tell me you turned into a witch or a wizard or..." Darryl replied.

"No no." Paige replied, "It's nothing of the sort. You see Lance and several people from Ted's unit went missing..."

"So why did you guys summon the Coyote of all people." Darryl replied as the Coyote began to start line dancing with several handcuffed felons.

"Well, it was sort of an attempt at interrogation..." Ted replied, "Maybe he could tell us where exactly Lance and everyone else is."

"Do you have any way of controlling it?" Darryl asked.

"Hang on...Gotcha!" Ted replied and fired a dart.

Inspector Sheridan stood up shakily, only to be struck in the rear end by another tranquilizer dart. "Wuh...wuh...wuh..." she said as she staggered and fell right into the nearby coffee pot.

Suddenly the room froze, with the exception of Paige. Standing in the doorway of the precinct was an extremely irate Piper.

"Paige...you have some explaining to do..." Piper began.

"Piper, how did you...?"

"Leo told me that a Guardian of Chaos had escaped. And Phoebe called saying that a silver furred coyote appeared in her office and duct taped Spencer Ricks to a chair and launched him by rocket motor out of a window..." Piper began, "And surprisingly I get a phone call from Low Light wondering where on Earth Ted wandered off to."

Piper unfroze Ted just then. "Damn it! I missed and...uh oh..."

"Uh oh is right, Mountaineer, what were you thinking." came the voice of an irate Flint.

"We thought we'd interrogate the coyote to see if he could tell us where Lance was." Ted replied, "Seeing how the coyote loves to bug Lance, who better than to figure out where he is, along with everyone else."

"OK, I see your reasoning, warped as it is." Flint replied, "Now let's interrogate the coyote, somewhere else."

The group promptly left the police station, leaving yet another scene of chaos behind. As soon as he felt the familiar sensation of being unfrozen by Piper, Darryl sense an extremely bad headache coming on as he surveyed the Coyote induced chaos surrounding him...

---

TBC.


	6. Derailed

1Derailed

Disclaimer: Same as before...

---

The sewers, while damp, smelly, and dark were a welcome respite from the ferocious clashes between the invading Russians and the surviving Metroville defenders on the island who, coordinated or not, were inflicting their losses on the Russians. Adding the Heartless into the mix, and it was easy to determine why the group had chosen this underground refuge to access the prison and hopefully their way out.

_Oh God, I hope Frank's alright..._Emily thought. The strain of worrying what she would find, what those bastards might have done to Frank, was beginning to tell. Would she find him in the prison? Or had he fallen into the hands of the Russians?

Gunfire echoed, together with the occasional explosion above as Russian Marines and _spetsnaz _troops clashed with the remaining Metroville resistance reinforced by newly arrived Shock Troops. A blast shook the tunnel a little, causing dust to rain down.

As they rounded a corner Fielder took a second to glance at his map, "We're under the prison. We'd better hurry and get inside if we hope to find Frank, the Russians aren't too far behind."

As if to prove his point, the sound of a grenade exploding further down the tunnel. The Russians were starting to flood into the tunnels.

"Up you go!" Fielder said.

"We don't even know what's up there." Shipwreck replied.

"We know what's back there, though." Fielder replied, "Unless you want to fight through an ass ton of pissed off Russians..."

Shipwreck grabbed one of his Desert Eagles before climbing up, sliding the manhole away and peeking out. "It's safe guys, we can..."

A burst of gunfire echoed, narrowly missing Emily by a few inches. Lance let his eyes roll and the ground shook as part of the ceiling caved in and blocked off the tunnel from the advancing Russians.

"Let's get up there, someone will have heard that." Fielder said.

---

"So what possessed you two to let loose the most destructive menace in creation?" Piper began.

"We were hoping he'd tell us where Lance was." Ted replied, "The Coyote always knows where he is so that he can annoy him to no end…"

"And now he's around here to annoy _us _to no end." Piper replied, "You're lucky Phoebe was able to convince Elise Rothman that you work for Animal Control."

"Look, Piper, it wasn't Ted's fault." Paige replied.

"I know, you were the one who cast the spell. I still don't know what drove you two to release the most annoying, most vile, and certainly most madcap thing in creation..." Piper continued.

"We were trying to find Lance. In case you didn't know, a good number of our teammates are trapped on another world and we have no idea where they are." Ted snapped back.

"Here's an idea, ask the Coyote." Flint began, "Hey Coyote, where are our teammates..."

"First off, it's Mischief, or more precisely the Guardian of Mischief." The Coyote began.

"Whatever." Flint replied, "If you don't help us find our teammate I promise there will be consequences."

"Such as..." The Coyote replied.

"You won't have Lance around to annoy anymore." Paige chimed in.

Flint glared at her with a look that was a mix of annoyance and thanks.

"I can't do it from your world. It's not on the same wavelength as mine." Mischief began.

"To which I am eternally grateful." Piper replied, "Paige, send him back."

"Coyote of another plane, cause of Lance's annoyance and pain. I send you back to whence you came, to annoy Lance yet again..." Paige said as the Coyote vanished in a shadow of sparks and orbs.

"So you're going to need to rely on Lance's imaginary enemy...no, scratch that, Lance's imaginary, insane, singing, _crossdressing_ and gender confused enemy to find him?" Piper replied, "I hate to say it, but you guys are screwed."

"We're all in this together. Let's not forget Lance is the Keyblade wielder, Piper." Paige replied.

"If this _Keyblade_ ever shows up." Piper replied.

"It will show up." Leo said as he walked into the room, "But I don't know when. Even the Elders don't know when..."

"First thing's first let's find our missing teammates." Ted replied, "Or hope that our fast-talking Coyote friend finds them...We can worry about this keyblade later."

---

Shipwreck peeked out of the manhole, the only things visible being part of his head and his Desert Eagle. He peeked 360 degrees before climbing out of the hole. Fielder followed after him, covering another 180 degrees.

The rest of the team followed as Fielder attacked the door to the prison with his shotgun. As soon as he opened the door, several Shadow Heartless rushed at the team. Roadblock mowed them down with bursts of fire from his M240G.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW!" Lance shouted.

"Oh for God's sake, Lance we don't have time for you to lose it right now!" Bobby snapped as he and Kitty were helping Kurt up the ladder.

"One thing's for sure the Russians haven't hit this area yet." Shipwreck remarked as the team pushed deeper into the prison.

"What makes you say that?" Cover Girl replied.

"There's no sign of any doors being smashed in and bullet holes all over the place." Shipwreck said.

"Someone else got the prison staff though." Fielder remarked, noticing claw marks in the nearest wall, and the clawed corpse of a guard lying nearby.

"Guys, I hate to interrupt, but we've got the Russians chasing us." Dash said.

"NO I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR LATEST VERSION OF THE SCHINTZELBANK SONG!!!" Lance shouted at the air, waving his arms.

"You gotta love the man's timing." Pietro remarked.

"Lance this is no time to lose your mind. We've got the Russians right on our behind!" Roadblock shouted.

"JUST WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE YOU FLEA FACTORY!" Lance shouted.

"So what does your mystical coyote friend want this time?" Kitty asked.

"He just said he's off to tell Phoebe where we are, maybe the Charmed Ones can figure us a way off this hellhole." Lance replied.

"Charmed Ones?" Fielder asked.

"Friends of ours. They're three of the most powerful witches on our world." Cover Girl replied.

"Well we can't rely on distant friends of yours. Our best bet's still the C-5 unit. If we can rescue Frank he might be able to jury-rig a C-5 connection to get you guys back to your world and us back to ours." Fielder replied.

The sounds of the fighting getting closer could be heard as the Russians continued their assault toward the prison. They were moving methodically, slowly, but inexorably. Doors would be breached with mechanical devices or blown open, grenades tossed inside, and bursts at full automatic emptied into the rooms, moments later the Russians would burst inside and kill any survivors.

Metroville's defenders weren't going down lightly, either. Often Russian squads would be ambushed with homemade explosive devices, grenades, or ambushed by the Shock Troops. Russian soldiers faced frequent sniper attacks, which resulted in RPGs being fired at the sources of the shots.

As the group made its way deeper into the prison, they noticed that the Heartless had almost entirely overrun the prison.

"And Syndrome supposedly said he could control them, make them subservient to Metroville's needs. That's why the Russians invaded. They knew what a threat the Heartless posed, and with Syndrome provoking them, the attack was inevitable." Emily remarked, "Yet another lie he told when he took over the government, promising stability and security."

"We'd been monitoring Syndrome's activities for years after Mr. Incredible first defeated him." Alan Fielder replied.

Aside from the occasional Shadow Heartless, the prison was almost empty. "Hey guys, take a look at this..." Emily said, noticing a thinned looking notebook on the floor.

**September 5th - 16 days have passed since I was abducted on a street in Congo by the men in black, and was brought here. I didn't understand what was happening at first, but I gradually became aware of the truth of this city. We seem to be confined here to serve as guinea pigs for a man known as Syndrome... The guinea pigs seem to be gathered from all over the world. The guy in the next room is from China, the one in front of my cell is from Brazil. The rest are Czechoslovakian, Japanese... It's like a world trade show. It's strange that they are all around my **

**age. The youngest is 16, and the oldest is 19 or 20. Those guards sometimes take us to an arcade or to a night club so we can enjoy ourselves and relieve our stress, but I won't let them deceive me. I will escape from this place, no matter what it takes! I must... Anyway, the most important thing to do now is to organize and gather our comrades for what lies ahead. **

**September 10th - Recently, the others have been behaving strangely. It seems that they put some kind of weird drug into our meals. I sometimes lose consciousness, too. I have to be careful.**

**September 21st I can't believe it! Another friend of mine, Chin, from the next room, was taken to the factory on the mountain. I don't think Chin's coming back. He will meet the same fate as Anna or Jacob who disappeared last week. I know... I know what happens to those who are taken to the factory on the mountain... When they took me to a night club yesterday, I overheard a conversation that some factory workers were having... Under orders from Lieutenant Stewart, they cut open our brains and extract some kind of material, whatever they call it. All I can say is that Stewart is a devil. No... Not just Stewart. Even the women and children in this city don't treat us as human beings, but as guinea pigs. All the people in the city are evil I will surely be killed if I stay here any longer. We have to hurry and execute our escape plan! **

**October 9****th**** - The time has come. I have noticed the Umbrella people have been visibly disturbed for about a week or so. Rumor has it that there was a terrible accident at the Umbrella Laboratory somewhere in America. All the prison guards seem to be very busy gathering information on the accident, so security isn't as tight. We've organized our comrades already. Stojkovic and Enriquez are supposed to steal the keys from the guards. Sankhon and I will act as decoys, and Yoshikawa and Fellipe are in charge of gathering weapons. October 10th We have decided our escape route. The plan will be carried out at 11 PM tonight. We have twenty members seperated into two units: Unit A and Unit B. Unit A will go into the sewer through the ventilation slot of the confinement room, while Unit B will use a rope climb down from the surveillance tower. We'll use the rope they used to tie us. If we fail, Stewart will surely kill us. But if we stay here, Stewart will order them to cut our brains eventually. We're dead either way, but I'd rather die trying to escape... **

"Oh my God..." Emily blanched.

"Moreausceau." Shipwreck remarked, quietly.

"What?" Emily asked.

"He means an island where we discovered COBRA was up to some similar things." Shipwreck said.

"COBRA?" Fielder asked asked, "Oh yes, from your world. Our intelligence reports say that it's lead by one of the world's greatest incompetents."

"Incompetents, yes. Unethical and evil, yes." Roadblock replied, "But about him we cannot stress..."

"We've got to find Frank." Emily replied.

"I wished they had a prisoner manifest around here. It'd be easier to find him that way." Shipwreck replied.

"The perfect way to find anything in a dictatorship, its paperwork." Cover Girl noted, "But we can't count on being so lucky every time."

Fielder took down a door with a trio of shotgun blasts and kicked the door open. The door was marked Infirmary.

A strangled cry echoed from the room beyond. "Help me...Somebody..."

"Mother of God." Fielder replied when he saw Frank.

Two antennae protruded from Frank's head, tufts of his hair had already fallen out and in their place he could see the pitch black flesh of a Heartless. One of his eyes was its normal brown, the other was a glowing yellow orb. One arm was normal, the other ended in a twisted black claw. He walked slightly hunched over.

"Oh God no..." Emily said, "Frank, what have they done to you?"

Fielder raised his shotgun, "I'm sorry Frank."

"NO!" Emily screamed, "We have to help him!"

"We can't." Fielder replied, "You know that."

"Go ahead Fielder, shoot me." Frank replied, "You were always jealous of me anyway!"

"I won't let you!" Emily replied, tears appearing in her eyes.

"You know he'll transform completely and then turn against us!" Fielder replied.

Emily stood in front of Frank, "If you're going to kill him, you'll have to kill me too." Emily replied.

"Emily, it's nothing personal. In a few hours Frank won't exist anymore. He'll become a Heartless and kill all of us!" Fielder replied.

"Don't shoot him!" Kitty pleaded, "Remember, you said he knew how to activate the C5 corridor."

"Too dangerous." Fielder replied, "If he transforms..."

"If he transforms, then we'll deal with it." Roadblock said, "You're not shooting him and that's it."

Fielder looked like he wanted to argue but nodded his head and lowered the shotgun. "Let's get out of here, the Russians will be here any second, or any Metroville soldiers that try to retake the place."

"HALT!" A Metroville guard said as he burst into the room, aiming his MP5 sub machinegun at Emily, "Lay down your weapons or this one dies."

With the life of his fiancee at risk, Frank didn't hesitate. He let out a savage roar and leapt right at the Metroville guard who managed to graze Frank with a single bullet. A deranged howl of pain and anger echoed from Frank's throat as he literally disarmed the Metroville soldier.

The man looked at the severed stump of his right arm, screaming as blood gushed from severed arteries. Frank let out another savage roar and the man's screams became blood choked gurgles as Frank slammed him into the wall and clawed at his torso, causing entrails and blood to fly everywhere. "DON'T EVER THREATEN HER AGAIN!!!!"

Frank continued to rip the corpse of the man to shreds long after he was dead before he quit, turning back to the group, covered in blood.

"We've got to get to the test facility on Promontory Hill." Frank said, "That's where they're trying to duplicate the C5 technology."

Fielder shot him a look that said, 'I'll keep my eye on you...' as they left the area hurriedly.

"Likewise..." The Frank-Heartless growled.

"Let's keep moving." Shipwreck said, "Before anything else finds us."

---

The Island, indeed much of Metroville was in shambles. To the south of Sheena Island packs of Soviet tanks and motorized infantry regiments supported by massive artillery fire and air attacks. Roving behind the lines were _spetsnaz_ detachments, attacking supply convoys, blowing up bridges, command and control stations, and aircraft on the ground. VDV paratroopers were fighting protracted engagements in places like Municberg, after having been dropped unexpectedly behind the lines.

But the Syndrome run dictatorship of Metroville wasn't going quietly. The Soviets didn't have complete air superiority, daily clashes between the Red Air Force and the Metroville Aerospace Defense Force occured. Resistance fighters in Soviet occupied territories killed their Soviet occupiers in fierce gun battles, forcing the Russians to divert troops and material to 'pacified' sectors in order to protect their supply lines. First rate shock troops were sent to hunt down and kill the _spetsnaz _intruders. As more forces were mobilized, second and third rate troops to be sure, the Russians encountered fierce resistance from brave yet inexperienced enemies. Syndrome's new defensive line gave ground slowly to the Russian onslaught, allowing many civilians to escape northward, but at a vast cost...

Dan Rydinger(1) ducked low as bullets streaked from what had once been Concourse B of the Municberg International Airport. The Russian paratroopers had taken the airport and had been stubbornly holding it and the surrounding neighborhood for weeks. They had to be dug out room by room, house by house, street by street, block by block.

They were tricky bastards to be sure. They might fight over a house for days, but they would retreat during the night, wait for the probing attack and then blow the house up around the ears of the attacking Metroville soldiers.

Of the forty-seven men that had been with him when he joined D Company, the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Infantry Division almost eighty perecent of them were killed or wounded in vicious city fighting against the Russians.

A Russian MiG-27 Flogger dropped several bombs on a nearby building only to be struck by a missile from a I-8 Fighter. The Metroville fighter plane flew over the 8th Infantry Division's positions on full afterburner and the Metroville ground troops cheered. Two MiG-29 Fulcrums came flying over the horizon in hot pursuit.

The cheering in the basement where Dan and his fellow troops were hiding began to stop. "Get down!" A sergeant shouted as a Mil Mi-24 'Hind' gunship flew towards them. With twin 30mm automatic cannons and forty S8 rockets capable of saturating several square miles with high explosives the Hinds were among the most feared Soviet aircraft by Dan and his fellow grunts.

The squad leader had no sooner shouted when a 30mm shell blew his head apart like a watermelon struck with an axe.

Dan found himself splattered with his squad leader's brains. He dived underneath an old table literally one second after a rocket struck the building and exploded. The cellar shook violently as multiple rockets smashed into the neighborhood.

One soldier screamed hysterically, howling like a soul damned in Hell as the rockets continued to pummel the neighborhood.

The others crouched low, wishing they were deeper underground or for the barrage to halt. After what seemed like an eternity, the barrage halted. "Any second now boys..." another soldier said to the new recruits.

Dan knew from his time at the front that Soviet paratroopers frequently followed creeping barrages towards their intended targets. Any second now the Russians would be right on top of them, fighting over the wrecked ruins of the old house.

That was what his war had been reduced to, fighting small unit actions against the Russians over the devastated ruins of Municberg.

"Here they come!" came the shout.

"Grenade!" Another soldier shouted as one was tossed into the basement. He threw it back out at the Russians and heard a loud scream of pain.

Grenades exploded, killing friend and foe alike as Metroville soldiers and Russian paratroopers fought over the wrecked rooms. Sometimes the Russians would hold one floor, and their enemies the floor above or below it, with the two sides arranged in the building like a layer cake from Hell...

---

"Paige, I have news about…" Sam said as he orbed into the Halliwell Manor's living room, he didn't see any of the sisters, just a fellow wearing the olive uniform of the Israeli Defense Force, "Who are you?"

"I might have to ask you the same question pal." Ted replied.

Paige hurried into the room just then. "Sam, what's going on?"

"Paige, what's going on? Who is this clown…" Ted replied.

"This 'clown' is her father." Sam replied.

"I didn't know that they let you drink at the fire station." Ted replied.

"Ted, he's my biological father." Paige replied. Thanks to the bond between them, he could feel Paige was a bit on edge.

"And who the hell are you?" Sam replied.

"I'm Ted Griffin, Paige's boyfriend." Ted replied.

"Boyfriend?" Sam said, "This guy?"

"What the hell are you insinuating?" Ted replied.

"I've heard of you. You hang out with that Misfit crowd. You're the one who keeps sending the Coyotes and those tiny bearded insane sailors into the Whitelighter area!" Sam continued.

"Whoa! Gramps," Ted protested, "First of all I did no such thing. There is no way in hell I control any Coyotes or Shipwreck clones!"

"Well if you hang around trash you start to smell." Sam replied, "And what do you mean by Gramps?"

"First of all Shipwreck, Sands, the Blind Master, and that lot of idiots..." Sam continued.

"Hey, they might not be the most sane, most stable or whatever group." Ted countered, "But I will say this. They are a loyal, if mismatched group of people who genuinely care about each other! And I'm proud to part of that group."

"Well, you know what they say, birds of a feather flock together. I can't allow my daughter to consort with the likes of you." Sam replied.

Paige stood there, helplessly as Ted and Sam began to argue some more.

"And you're a role-model yourself!" Ted snapped back angrily, "You basically abandoned Paige the second she was born. You didn't even know her name! You just told that old nun to give her a name that started with 'P'..."

"Ted..." Paige began.

"I did not abandon Paige, Ted!" Sam replied.

"Really, and dumping her off at the nearest church doesn't constitute abandonment because..." Ted replied.

"Sam..." Paige continued.

"Those were slightly different circumstances." Sam replied.

"And you didn't even try to watch her from afar!" Ted replied snappily.

"And you're one to judge me, murderer!" Sam replied.

"Sam, he's not a murderer!" Paige snapped back.

"Paige, it's OK...I deserve it..." Ted replied.

"No he doesn't! Sam, you don't know Ted the way I do!" Paige replied.

"Paige, you're making a terrible mistake with this man." Sam replied, "You have that Whitelighter's bond with him..."

"And I know he carries a great burden with what he had to do!" Paige replied.

"How do you know that..." Sam said, putting his hand on Paige's forehead and the two were sent back to a moment in Ted's past.

_Jerusalem, 2002: "Ted!" the little girl said as she sat up in her hospital bed, excited to see him._

"_Hey little miss." Ted smiled, despite weariness, despite the fact that the bus from Gaza had been delayed. The forty-eight hours he was about to spend with Alexia and Emily were worth it._

"_You're late." Emily, the bed-bound little girl said._

"_Bus got held up." Ted replied. A young woman, maybe in her mid twenties approached and Ted embraced and kissed her._

"_You know Emily," Ted said, with a joking tone, "You know why they make little kids like you so endearing is so that adults don't leave you under a bush." _

"_If you leave her under a bush, you're not likely to have a place to stay in Jerusalem." Alexia said._

_Ted took _

"Who is she?" Paige asked Sam, as she detected the thick waves of emotion radiating from Ted, love for the woman, and a paternal love for the little girl.

"He never told you about her? How he was dating a single mother in Israel five years ago from 2001-2002? How he almost had an adopted daughter?" Sam asked, "Tsk tsk..."

"Ted's got a lot of things in his past. If she's an old girlfriend of his, " Paige replied, "And isn't there something more important at hand...like why you came here."

"I'm trying to save you, Paige, save you from..." Sam replied.

"Save me from what?" Paige replied.

_Jerusalem, 2002: The charred remnants of the van lay in the middle of the street. A woman stood sobbing, among the crowd being kept back by the MAGAV escort. Ted raced over, still in civilian clothes he approached the sobbing woman. "Alexia, was Emily...Oh God no..."_

_Alexia's tears told him the story, "Sh-she went to see the Children's Museum...they were taking the kids to see it...and then the van...As if leukemia wasn't going to kill her already! They took my baby away!"_

_**God, let me kill the bastards who took Emily away from us!**__ Ted thought as his mobile phone rang, summoning him to YAMAS HQ._

_The YAMAS HQ was packed with all its team members. Apparently this wasn't the only attack on Israel's children that day. This attack on a van full of Israeli children's hospital patients was just one of several attacks. _

_A man stood there in a plain gray suit, a Shin Bet operative. "We suspect Al-Asqa had a hand in today's events. And we will need men of your talent to go get the bastards." _

_A picture was passed among the YAMAS operatives, he was a young man, about twenty-four years old with Aladdin-like roguish good looks, dark eyes and a thin mustache. _

"_Rahim Al-Tahiq, the mastermind of today's attack, bastard son of Sheik Al-Tahiq, a third rank Saudi Prince." the Shin Bet agent said, "He's an up and coming figure in Al-Aqsa, and we imagine he fled to Gaza, hidden by sympathetic Palestinians. We don't want him arrested, we want him dead."_

"_Why not simply shoot a guided missile into his hideout?" Levi asked._

"_We require a 'personal' touch. But we don't want it to look like Rahim was killed by Israeli forces, for fear of angering his Saudi father. Perhaps make it seem that he was killed by criminals in Gaza..." the Shin Bet man replied._

_Gaza 2002, two weeks later: Rahim Al-Tahiq walked out of his host's house, "It's dangerous outside, Rahim." the woman warned, "The Israelis have cracked down hard." _

"_I'm trying to prevent them from causing more harm to our children." Rahim said, indicating Khadija. The little girl sat in the middle of the floor playing with her doll, her only toy, missing both its arms. Khadija was missing her own left arm, courtesy of an Israeli air strike a month earlier. _

"_I just want to stretch my legs a little," Rahim said._

"_Please don't go Daddy..." Khadija said._

_The woman, whose own voice was choked with emotion added, "Please don't go outside. The Israelis are hunting you. They want you." _

"_They don't know I'm here, Leila. They have no idea that I've hidden in plain sight. They have no idea that I've taken shelter with my own flesh and blood." Rahim said._

"_Why do you do these things, Rahim?" Leila asked._

"_Look outside." Rahim said, "All this poverty, all this destruction, the Israelis are responsible. I had to make them pay." _

"_But you're actions only make it worse. The Israelis are enforcing more crackdowns, arresting more people..." Leila said._

"_All revolutions require sacrifices." Rahim said as he walked outside._

_Leila held her frightened daughter, tears streaming into her eyes. She feared she wouldn't see Rahim again._

_Rahim walked outside, intending to head for the corner to just relax. He never made it. A large hulking man grabbed him and dragged him into a back alley, pulling him into a hidden vehicle. A hood was flung onto his head and he was shoved bodily onto the vehicle's floor. A man put a knee to the side of his head, holding him to the ground. The larger man bound his hands with plastic flex-cuffs._

_The van raced away. "What do you want?" _

"_Shut up!" Ted shouted from the back seat, savagely kicking Rahim in the stomach. _

"_You are Israelis..." _

"_You are a criminal and we are your judge, jury, and executioner." Ted replied. _

Paige felt the raw anger and grief emanating from Ted's heart.

_The door of the van was flung open and Rahim was roughly flung onto the hardbaked ground. Samad, Ted and Avi all surrounded him, menacingly, carrying long sticks._

"_My daughter died in one of your attacks..." Ted replied._

"_All wars have casualties." Rahim said. Ted savagely kicked him in the ribs. Rahim let out a gasp that sounded like a football deflating. _

_Ted kicked him again, this time just below the solar plexus, "That's for Emily! That's for the daughter I never will have!" _

"_Your daughter died for..." Rahim began before Ted kicked him in the groin. _

"Do you see how he's enjoying it, how he's toying with Rahim..." Sam replied.

Paige could feel the savage elation.

"_Cut his restraints." Ted replied. Samad cut the restraints and Rahim attempted to get up, only for Ted to whack him on the outside of one leg, and Samad struck him on the other._

_He tried to crawl away only for Ted to stomp on one of his hand. Rahim let out a yell of pain. "Please...please stop..." Rahim shouted._

_Ted kicked him in the ribs again and Rahim felt liquid fire at his side, clutching with both broken hand and unbroken hand. Samad kicked him in the small of his back and Rahim's hands moved. Ted grabbed Rahim's broken hand and squeezed hard on the broken hand._

"_I have a daughter!? Please don't orphan my..." Rahim shouted._

_Ted swung the wooden stick, striking Rahim's elbow with a lot of force, breaking his arm. "You took mine away from me, I'm taking your life as revenge." _

"_My daughter was injured by one of your attacks..." Rahim began as Ted put his foot on the side of his head, pinning it to the ground._

"_And mine was killed." Ted replied, "And the price is your life." _

"_Oh please..." Rahim begged._

_Ted stomped on his other hand. Rahim shouted, "My little one loved stuffed animals. Her hospital room was full of them." _

_He swung the stick again, hitting the broken rib. "She loved going outside with her mother! And your bomb ended her life and I will end yours."_

"_There is no God but Allah and Mohammed..." Rahim began as Ted, Samad, and Avi continued to kick and strike him until they were sure he was dead. _

"_Go through his pockets, it's a robbery, remember." Samad replied._

_Ted dug into the pockets. Among the possessions was a picture of a woman and a small girl. __**Oh God, what have I done...**_

_The team took the corpse and dumped it into the back alley they had taken him from._

_Two days later: "The body of Rahim Al-Tariq was found beaten and bludgeoned in a Gaza back alley. Palestinian police believe the motive was robbery." _

"See, he has the heart of a vengeful killer." Sam began.

"Aside from delving into my past, why are you here?" Ted demanded, visibly shaken.

Paige went to his side, holding him. Ted was too shaken to move away. She glared at Sam, "What have you done to him?"

"We visited his past. To see the darkness in his heart. You saw how he enjoyed beating and kicking Rahim to death." Sam replied.

"Sam, I know there are things in Ted's past that he regrets. I know he had a life before he met me and he wasn't exactly a monk. But I love him for who he is, not for who he was." Paige replied.

"But who he was made him who he is." Sam replied.

"We'll deal with this later, but why are you here?" Paige asked Sam.

"It's some news. The Elders receive word that an old enemy of G.I. Joe may rear its ugly head." Sam replied, "Cobra-La."

"Cobra-La," Ted replied, "Wait a second, I thought that it was destroyed years ago?"

"Apparently not." Sam replied, "Somehow they survived."

Flint walked into the room, having overheard the word Cobra-La. "We destroyed them years ago."

"Apparently, but they survived, somehow." Sam replied, "And now there is something afoot. Lower level demons have been throwing their lot in with Golobulus, who for reasons unknown has sided with Syndrome and this mysterious Organization XIII."

"I'll get Dial Tone over here, we'll share our information on Cobra-La." Flint said, "This is serious."

"It is rumored that experiments with Cobra-La technology fused with Syndrome's horrific creations and the Heartless are underway." Sam began.

---

"So," Cobra Commander said, "A lot of the Misfits and Joes and two of the Incredibles are trapped on your world, Syndrome. Between two invading factions."

"The Serum as an illegal street drug is working wonders. Many new Heartless are being added to our ranks every day. They're doing a credible job of having the remaining Joes chase them all over the world, trying to isolate them." Syndrome replied, "And that is Step Two of my plan. Combine that with the FoH making trouble as well. Step Three will be the start of gathering more hearts for the final push and capturing a magical nexus, the Halliwell Manor. And finally Step Four will be taking the world by storm with swarms of Heartless and Nobodies."

"Yes, we've heard that before." Cobra Commander said.

"But allies are needed. Barillo's Cartel and Stryker's FoH provide much needed manpower and distribution networks for the Serum, and bodies to throw before G.I. Joe's efforts. And the Jugglers concealing the presence our latest allies is a boon."

Pythona walked into the room then, with Nemesis Enforcer in tow.

"You!!!" Cobra Commander hissed.

"I'm aware there's some...history...between you two." Syndrome replied, "But their help was key in securing key technology and some key DNA, together with that of lower level demons and Heartless to create the Prototype."

"Prototype?" Cobra Commander asked.

"This creature is currently in stasis in the Kronos Facility. The same Island where several Joes, Misfits, and X-men are trapped." Syndome said, "Let's give it a test drive..."

Cobra Commander and Pythona glared at one another from across the room as Syndrome activated a video screen showing a creature, about six and half feet tall, hideously over muscled, one arm ending in a hideous claw, the other normal. The symbol of the Heartless was stamped into its chest, and a mouthful of fang-like teeth filled its mouth. Antennae sprouted from its head, as its eyes glowed yellow-white.

Syndrome pressed a small red button and the fluid began to drain out of the tank. The Prototype was on it's hands and knees at the bottom of the tank before it stood up, tore the leads from its body and shattered the tank.

The Prototype let out a loud roar as it stalked through the facility. Syndrome punched in some orders into a computer.

"This will be the unpleasant surprise will await the Misfits, Joes, and X-men trapped on the Island..." Syndrome replied.

---

TBC

1.Dan Rydinger is Tony Rydinger's brother from the story 'Relocated' in the Incredibles section.


	7. Wrong Side of the Tracks

Wrong Side of the Tracks

Disclaimer: Same as before...

---

The group left the prison not a moment too soon. For the sounds of _spetsnaz _and teams of Soviet Marines breaking into the prison could be heard. Grenades exploded as doors were smashed in and bursts of gunfire blazed into the rooms.

Lance suddenly froze in his tracks, his eyes rolled into his head. "Oh no!" Cyclops said, "Alvers! Snap out of it!!!"

"He can't!" Pietro shouted, "He's gone into one of his trances. Magneto's really done a number on him!"

"Can we carry him?" Piotr said, trying to grab Lance but saw that Lance's feet were rooted into the ground.

"Great, the Russians will be here any second and Lance is stuck in a trance!" Pietro said, "Great, I'm starting to sound like Roadblock."

_**Lance found himself in a mysterious realm. It was dark, save for a single pane of glass that he stood upon, much like that of a stained glass relic. **_

"_**Where am I?" Lance shouted, "I know someone's here! This isn't time to mess with me! My friends are in danger!"**_

"_**Your world is in danger." An Australian accented voice replied. **_

"_**Who...what...where are you?" Lance said as he looked around, seeing nothing.**_

_**A shower of blue orbs, recognizable as that of a Whitelighter, appeared. Standing in the middle of the orbs was a lean framed man, with short black hair. His clothing was fairly nondescript, a pair of jeans and hiking boots, a plain tan t-shirt and a blue light jacket.**_

"_**I am Brumby, you're guide..." **_

"_**Guide me back to my friends! They're in trouble..." Lance shouted.**_

"_**Worry not of what is outside. Follow me and have faith." Brumby said, "I feel your fear, Lance...but trust me." **_

"_**OK. So if I'm supposed to trust you, where the hell are we?**_" _**Lance asked.**_

"_**I'm not sure, entirely, but I know that you and I exist outside of time whenever we enter this realm." Brumby replied.**_

_**Lance was about to reply when Brumby vanished. "Wh-where are you?" **_

_**Before Lance appeared three items. A sword. A shield. A magical staff. "Select one of these..." a disembodied voice, definitely not Brumby's, said. **_

_**Lance looked, and decided for a moment and selected the sword. "Is this really what you want?" **_

"_**Yes!" Lance shouted, impatiently. **_

_**The same three items displayed. "Which item will you give up...?" **_

_**Lance thought for a second. He wasn't about to give the sword away, the staff might have some magical ability, and the shield...**_

_**Lance tossed the shield away. With the sword he could attack whatever was going to show up anyway. **_

"_**Is this the form you wish to take?" The voice asked. **_

"_**Yes." Lance replied impatiently. **_

_**A stained glass ramp appeared and Lance followed it to another platform in the darkness. Standing on the platform was Brumby again. **_

"_**You face a dangerous foe, the Heartless seek to consume all." Brumby replied.**_

"_**I know, we've been chasing them around for months." Lance replied.**_

"_**But do you know the true extent of the damage the Heartless have wrought?" Brumby replied, "Thousands of worlds destroyed. Their hearts cosumed and forever lost to the cosmos." **_

_**Brumby gestured again and Lance could see a world, a beautiful world of verdent forests, peaceful hamlets, in the foothills of high mountains and a castle overlooking a river. The sun shone high, bathing the land in its warm glow.**_

_**Brumby gestured again. It was like an IMAX movie, Lance could smell the smoke, could hear the sounds of battle, the cries of the wounded and dying. **_

_**He saw a band of elf like humans, wearing what looked like battered armor, wielding swords, halbreds, and axes battling against several strange looking skeletal Heartless. The defenders of Hyrule were fighting even as their world was dying.**_

_**The sky was blood red, interrupted only by plumes of gray-black smoke and dense clouds. **_

"_**Link!" Zelda shouted, "Watch out!" **_

_**Zelda flung a boomerang that decapitated a Neoshadow about to run Link through from behind as he hacked away at a Large Body. **_

_**Link turned for one second, giving his beloved a grateful smile. The Large Body saw an opening and swung a severely cut arm at Link about to clothesline him when a Moblin jumped over the hero's shoulders and buried a spear into the creature's eye.**_

"_**You watch your back..." The Moblin said. **_

_**In a rare moment of cooperation Ganon's monsters were fighting alongside Hyrule's other residents against the plague that sought to consume them all. **_

_**Before Link could acknowledge two Air Soldiers dived from the skies, lifting the Moblin screaming several hundred feet into the air and dropping him head first into the swarm of Heartless. **_

_**Several Octorocks on the side of the castle spat boulders that crushed Heartless underneath the rolling boulders. A rock smashed into an Air Soldier, sending him spinning out of the air where Zelda flung another of her boomerangs, cleaving off a wing and sending him falling into a swarm of Moblins that smashed the creature to death, stomping it beneath their feet. **_

_**The Moblins were fighting against a swarm of several Large Bodies, shoving against it, swinging swords and maces. **_

_**An Octorock boulder smashed into the Large Bodies, and accidentally crushing two Moblins. **_

_**A band of Hyrulian defenders stood back to back, swords and shields at the ready as several Soldier Heartless and Nobodies surrounded them. They hacked at anything that neared them. **_

_**Link shouted, "Follow me!" **_

_**Several nearby Hyrulians, alongside several Moblins and Skeletal Warriors, trying to hack their way to the trapped warriors. **_

_**The trapped Hyrulian warriors hacked away at any Heartless that got too close to their wall-like formation of swords and shields. But the sheer numbers began to tell. Even as Link and the band of warriors behind him hacked their way towards the besieged fighters, they began to fall, one by one. **_

_**Link swore angrily as the last of the fighters was overwhelmed, stabbed and slashed to death by the scimitars of many Bandit Heartless. **_

"_**ZELDA!" He shouted as several Heartless surrounded the Hyrulian Princess. A glowing heart shaped device floated into the sky as Link, maddened with grief, hacked his way into the mob of Heartless as several more converged on the hero's position...**_

_**The scene of Hyrule's last valiant gasps ended. **_

"_**Fear not, wielder of the Keyblade." Brumby said, "Other worlds have thrown the tyranny of the Heartless from their shoulders." **_

"_**For instance on my world, the Germans were once allies of the Heartless..." Brumby continued.**_

_**Brumby gestured again. All around Lance could see the devastated ruin of the German city of Hamburg. First pounded by the British Royal Air Force at night, and the United States Army Air Force by day during the Round the Clock Bombing campaign, the city was already in ruins.**_

_**A German tank pushed out of the ruins of a smashed building. Mere hours ago the Hamburg Garrison had mutinied against their Heartless allies, killing them wherever they were to be found. Lance recognized it as a World War II German Tiger Tank from a model on Ted's bedside table.**_

_**All throughout Germany, almost ninety percent of the Reich's armed forces had turned against Maleficent and the Heartless. **_

_**The scene shifted again showing an enraged Maleficent: "The Hamburg garrison rebelled?" Maleficent began, speaking to an unseen voice, "Level a German city. I will not have mutinies in ranks..."**_

_**Hours later, on shortwave radios all over Europe, German soldiers heard the following announcement: "Soldiers and people of Germany. For nearly six years we have stood hand in hand. I have helped your leaders bring power and prosperity, restoring Germany's rightful position among the nations." Maleficent's voice echoed, "However, a small group of cowards chose to mutiny at Hamburg. An example must be made...A few hours ago the Heartless reduced Boblingen to ashes. I know only a few malcontents in the Reich were responsible, but to the traitors I issue the following: Let it be known that for every act of rebellion another German city will be destroyed to the last child."**_

_**All around numerous shortwave radios, shock and horror pervaded. Minds began to turn. At first those who turned against the Heartless were a minority in the German armed forces, but after Maleficent's threat the German armed forces, save for a few hardcore Facists, turned against the Heartless.**_

_**The scene flashed to a bunker near the Potsdam garrison. Several German soldiers around a radio turned and started shooting several nearby Shadow Heartless in their bunker. Lance watched as the Heartless were being ruthlessly slaughtered by the now angered Germans. **_

_**The scene changed again, this time on the Rhine front. All over the German side of the lines, shooting erupted. Allied troops on the line grabbed rifles and helmets and rushed to take their positions on the line. **_

_**A scout peeked through his binoculars. "Sir," he shouted, "The Germans. They're attacking the Heartless' positions..." **_

_**Lance saw through the scout's eyes, the view of several German soldiers attacking Heartless. A lone Focke-Wulf 190 fighter bomber dropped from the skies, dropping a bomb on a cluster of fleeing Heartless. **_

_**The scene shifted again. Maleficent shrieked as a Holy Fire consumed her. Standing over her was Prue Halliwell, saying a vanquishing spell that consumed Maleficent. **_

"_**The Eldest Halliwell, yet to return to this world, vanquished Maleficent." Brumby said. **_

_**The vision shifted again, to a vision of Lance's nightmare. Three hooded figures. A pained Kitty suspended between them.**_

_**Lance saw Kitty, suspended in midair, held there by invisible forces. Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth, melding with the tears and sweat leaking down her face. Her uniform was torn in several places, exposing skin and wounds, blood mixing with the fabric. She wasn't dead. She wasn't unconscious either. She was alive. Her face was bruised as well. One eye was swollen shut; the other contained enough pain for a dozen.**_

"_**Lance…" Kitty said, weakly.**_

_**Surrounding Kitty were three men with full length black robes, their hands outstretched before them, strange energy pulsing into Kitty…**_

"_**Lance…Help me…" Kitty groaned.**_

"_**You can't save her Lance." Said the voice, "You're nothing but a hood…" **_

"_**No!" Lance screamed, as he clutched a mysterious looking key-sword in his hands, charging towards the men, just as they launched a burst of killing energy into Kitty.**_

"_**BASTARDS!" Lance screamed, swinging the Keyblade, decapitating the first robed man, then the second, and the third. **_

_**Gasping from the effort and the grief, Lance raced over to Kitty, holding her limp body in his arms, feeling acid dread well up inside him. "No, please, don't leave me…I'm lost without you…Kitty…please hold on…"**_

_**As the wind shifted, the hood on one of the beheaded corpses shifted aside. Lance gasped in horror as he saw the face of the dead man was none other than his own…**_

"_**What…" Lance began, "Why...how did you know...?" **_

"_**I haven't much more time to explain." Brumby said, "But as your Guardian I will be looking out for you. At any time you can simply call my name and I will appear…" **_

Lance returned from the trance finding himself just outside the prison complex. "Alvers, let's get out of here!" Cyclops shouted.

Lance staggered a couple steps before falling over. "Oh my God, Lance?" Kitty said, running to his side. Their eyes locked for a brief instance, Kitty's showing the utmost concern and compassion, Lance's showing utter pain and fear.

A door burst open near them, several running Metroville Security Troops from inside the prison were gunned down by pursuing Russians. Cyclops fired an optic burst and Avalanche collapsed the entrance.

The group fled the scene hurriedly, fleeing towards an alleyway. From the roof leapt several strange creatures. They were about as tall as Roadblock but thinner, with red and white splotched carapaces and arms with lethal looking scimitars, like those of a praying mantis. A mixed symbol, a blend of the COBRA snake-head, the Heartless insignia and the symbol of the Nobody was branded onto each creature's armored chest. Their eyes glowed blue.

"What the…What are those things?" Cyclops asked.

"Don't look at me," Fielder replied, "These isn't any Heartless I've ever heard of…"

"Those look like COBRA-La Royal Guards...but crossbred with something nasty." Shipwreck began.

As one the creatures attacked with a high pitched piercing shriek. Roadblock opened fire with his M240G, hitting one of the creatures with a stream of lead that acted like a fire hose. The creature continued to advance despite the gunfire shoving at it, before its chestplate cracked and it fell dead.

One leapt straight towards Emily and the Frank-Heartless let out a bellow of rage and attacked the Scythe-Heartless. The thing swung a sword-like arm at Frank, grazing him. He wrestled the creature on the ground.

Fielder aimed his shotgun at it. Emily slapped it down, "You'll hit Frank!"

"No I won't!" Fielder shouted.

Another Scythe Heartless crossed its sword arms and scraped them together, sending an electric spark. Dash dodged it with a sprint and began running up a wall, the creature still trying to target him.

"Can't touch this…nah…nah…nah…nah!!!" Dash said, doing an M.C. Hammer impression.

"Lame! Lame! Lame! Lame!" Pietro shouted, to the rhythm of the song, "Dash is lame…"

Pietro ran like a whirlwind around the Scythe Heartless, confusing it and lifting it into the air, allowing Cover Girl to hit it with her M-16 numerous times.

Blob ran in to help Frank, stomping on the Heartless' head, splattering black blood and gray matter all over the place.

"Uck...Cover Girl, next time you kill something could you maybe not splatter it everywhere..." Pietro said as he wiped Heartless blood off his uniform.

"Wimp." Dash remarked.

"Lame-O..." Pietro replied.

"Can you guys quit for about five seconds!" Cyclops shouted, "We've kind of got issues, who knows how many more of those genetically altered Cobra-La Royal Guards are lurking around here..."

"Man, Toad's gonna be sad that he missed this." Xi remarked, "All those bug guts everywhere."

"Tainted with Heartless stink though..." Lance remarked.

"Guys, we've gotta keep heading for Promontory Hill before the Russians get there." Fielder remarked.

"I'm a little worried about these symbols."Shipwreck continued, pointing at the combined Heartless, Nobody, and Cobra La insignia.

"That's further sign that our old enemy's reared its ugly head..." Roadblock said, "And that means one more group's thrown its lot in with the Heartless in its stead."

"We can't afford to worry about that right now." Cover Girl said.

"She's right. We've got to head to Promontory Hill and get back to our world. Hopefully Lifeline or the Charmed Ones might figure out a way to help Frank." Shipwreck continued. Kurt groaned just then, "And we need to get Kurt to Lifeline, pronto."

The group continued on...

---

"I admit it was clever of your geneticists to combine select Heartless and Nobody genes with those of my Royal Guard..." Golobulus began.

"They're definitely stronger for it."Syndrome replied, his artificial infra-red eye glowing.

"But I could use a field test for my new Heartless..." Golobulus began.

"Come to think of it, my Omnidroid Mk. IVs could use a test as well." Syndrome continued, "I've added a troop carrying bay which can carry upwards of a thousand Heartless of all types, and those Heartless can reinforce their numbers by capturing new hearts and creating the occasional Nobody, as well as reinforcing the hull and added better learning software combined with a new obedience program which can't be overridden."

Syndrome continued to mull the point until deciding, "Those Jugglers have been bugging me for help regarding the Iranians lately. What a perfect opportunity to test my Omnidroid, your new Heartless, harvest some more new hearts, and give those Jugglers the illusion that I'm helping them out. Kill four birds with one stone."

Syndrome turned to some of his henchmen, "Fire the Omnidroid Mk.IV prototype at Bandar Abbas, the Iranian's most important naval base...I can't think of a better testing ground."

---

Promontory Hill was already the site of a battle. The numerous tubes which contained the Cobra-La Heartless were shattered open, their occupants now roaming the island, harvesting hearts.

An advance team of Soviet Spetsnaz fighters broke into the facility from three different angles with the intent of capturing the copy of the ACME C5 unit Metroville was rumored to be creating.

The Soviets broke into the facility from three different angles. From the roof they rappeled through the top windows. From below they tunneled in through an old salt mine. And they smashed through the front and back entrances to the facility.

They went through with lightning speed, killing any guards or Heartless they encountered in the facility. They searched room by room not knowing that a deadly surprise awaited them...

The Prototype struck suddenly, and violently, leaping down from atop a ceiling into the midst of a team of seven commandoes, shredding them apart in less than a few seconds.

Another team spotted the Prototype crouched amidst the bloodied corpses of their mates and opened fire, a full fusillade, with at least a few rounds striking home. The Prototype roared as if stung by a bee before leaping high into the air and drop kicking the nearest Spetsnaz trooper. His teammates turned and opened fire, either hitting each other or missing the Prototype entirely.

The creature roamed the halls as it stalked for things to kill...

---

"Shouldn't be too much further..." Fielder replied, "But it looks like some other folks have been by here."

"It sounds like the Soviets got here before us." Frank said, "Dear God I hope they didn't mess with the equipment..."

Bodies were everywhere, with arcs and pools of blood spattered about. "Looks like something's been here..."

"Where are the techs?" Shipwreck said, from outside.

"All over the place." Fielder remarked, "And so were the burglers..."

In the middle of the floor was a squad of Spetsnaz infiltrators, dismembered and ripped to shreds. On the wall was evidence of a rather one-sided firefight. Bullet holes peppered the wall, as well as telltale splatters of black blood.

"I don't think our Metroville friends were responsible for this..." Bobby remarked. Several Metroville security troops lay ripped to shreds by the Prototype's claws.

"Maybe our Cobra-La friends?" Fielder replied, "Lord knows there's an asston of those guys now running around the Island."

"Whatever it is, I hope it's far far away from here." Cover Girl remarked.

"Knowing us, that's not going to be the case." Shipwreck replied, loading up both Desert Eagles...

---

TBC


	8. Arrivals

**Arrivals**

**Disclaimer: Same as before. Note this fic takes place around the time of my fic, the Badger.**

**---**

The Pit's Command Center was abuzz since the Omnidroid had struck Bandar Abbas. Mr. Incredible noticed that, with fear running through his veins. Many of his friends and colleagues still alive on Metroville, where Syndrome's madness was now the rule of law and the Soviets were duking it out with Metroville's forces. _What if Syndrome launched one of those things at the Soviet Union on my world? _Bob thought. _Especially when Dash and Helen are still there, God knows where, and the Russians retaliate, especially if they use nukes..._

Bob quit thinking of Soviet reprisals, but images of mushroom clouds, burned out cities and nuclear wastelands filled his mind. Right now he had to focus, to help the Joes, X-men, and Misfits deal with this latest threat.

Dense smoke from the devastation of Bandar Abbas and Kish Island was belched into the skies over the Arabian Gulf. The Iranians had already mobilized entirely, severing all diplomatic relations, isolated and effectively an armed prison camp.

"In the last twenty-four hours Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia have begun mobilizing their own armed forces. Syndrome's latest act's got them spooked." Scarlett began as the TV showed images of Israeli F-15 Eagles patrolling the limits of their airspace, the scene shifted again to show IDF missile batteries starting to become active.

"Rightly so." Duke replied, "It took the other Misfits and X-men hours to finally subdue the thing and that was only one Omnidroid. Think of ten of those things being fired, twenty, forty, a hundred of those things being fired at major cities around the world. We've only got enough force to deal with one at a time...and not even that."

"This just in." Lady Jaye began, "We've got the Turkey, Greece, Albania, Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia mobilizing their armed forces. The Serbians have begun calling up their reservists and declaring martial law..."

"Low Light's briefing Hawk about facing down the Omnidroid at Bandar Abbas. I guess the Misfits, even without a majority of the team, showing up has prevented the Iranians from closing the Strait of Hormuz with mines or blowing up any ship that passes through." Duke added.

"South Korean intelligence has indicated that North Korean soldiers along the DMZ have been starting to disappear. At Panmunjon their guard detachment at the barracks marched out and no replacements appeared." Scarlett added.

"This is starting to get pretty bad..." Lady Jaye remarked, as she held up satellite photos, "A friend of mine at South Korea's CIA sent me these. Over the last month they've observed less and less foot and vehicle traffic on North Korea's roads..."

"It sounds like they're preparing for an invasion, and if it's anything like the Lightfoot Report suggests, it sounds like the North Koreans have sided with the Heartless and COBRA." Scarlett replied, "A COBRA and Syndrome backed North Korean People's Army tearing across the 38th Parallel is the last thing we need right now. Maybe with the Heartless Scare that's been going around since the Omnidroid wrecked Bandar Abbas, North Korea wants to settle the score with the South before Armaggedon."

"I'll get in touch with the CIA, maybe see if we can't get Agent Lightfoot's opinion on that." Lady Jaye replied.

"Don't bother." Duke began.

"What? Why?" Lady Jaye replied.

"We tried calling the CIA about that. Agent Lightfoot's on assignment and can't be contacted." Duke replied.

"Damn it. Just like the CIA, when we need someone to expound on something, he's on assignment." Lady Jaye remarked.

---

"Gretchen, did you need me?" Paige replied as she orbed into the wooded clearing in Western Canada where her charge waited.

The woman was middle aged, with dark brown hair and a pale complexion, "Have you heard anything from my son? I keep hearing on the news that Israel's mobilized all her forces..."

"Ted hasn't been recalled." Paige replied.

"Good, he just hasn't called us at all to tell us anything...you know parents worry." Gretchen replied.

"I just saw him yesterday, he's worried, but he's safe." Paige replied.

"Even after the Misfits attacked the Omnidroid in Iran? It was on the news." Gretchen replied.

"I saw him after he came back." Paige replied.

"Thank you Paige." Gretchen replied, "For helping and loving my son. He's written so many glowing letters about you. He's called you his Angel on more than a few occassions."

Paige smiled and blushed, "Well..."

"He came back from that war such an angry, haunted man...his father understood why, being a former Green Beret, but I never could." Gretchen replied, "But since he'd met you, he's starting to sound like the son I remember..."

"I'll tell him to call you when I see him again and I'm also happy to see you're relationship is healing." Paige replied.

"I'm seeing more and more of, well not really my son before he went into all that insanity, but something new, kind of a blend between my old son and something else. You're definitely a the best thing to happen in his life." Gretchen replied.

"Listen, Gretchen, I hate to be rude, but if there's nothing else, I have to get going." Paige replied.

"No, just a mom wanting to calm a few jitters about her son." Gretchen replied.

"I'll make sure he calls you." Paige replied.

It was shortly after Paige left that Gretchen felt the same disturbing visions and dreams she had been having for almost a year and a half. These Heartless things destroying worlds, individuals, be they beast or man.

_She saw it again. The forest was dark, only a few stars and no moon. She could see the dark form of the creature, it's eyes glowing yellow, clawed hands, and black antennae. _

_There was a creature, which was like an insectoid, with six legs like a praying mantis' front legs and three eyes and a mouth full of wicked looking teeth atop it's long, narrow neck. __**An acklay**__A voice in Gretchen's head said. __**A formidable predator.**_

_It certainly looked like it was a formidable hunter as the scant light reflected off its green carapace. It was feeding on some unidentified reptile when it scented the Heartless, it turned, front legs raised to defend itself. _

_From the brush came swarms of Large Body Heartless. The acklay swung a clawed, sword sharp forearm, decapitating one of the Large Body. It let out a roar and the other Heartless backed off, warily, keeping their distance. One of the Fat Bandit's belched fire and the acklay dodged the flames, narrowly avoiding being singed. It shrank back from the flames and the Heartless came in closer._

_The acklay was cornered against the tree trunks by several Heartless. It let out a reptilian call as it lashed out with one pointed claw, impaling a Shadow Heartless._

_The fire spread until the acklay couldn't turn and flee. The Heartless closed in and the acklay let out a vicious roar, swinging claws, raking Heartless apart, beheading, dismembering or impaling hated foes. _

_More Heartless pressed on the creature as it sustained wounds from the attacking Heartless until they managed to finally kill it and take it's heart. A hooded figure walked amonst the Heartless, unharmed and it took genetic samples from the acklay's corpse._

_**The Heartless mutate...**__the mysterious voice said. A mantis-like Heartless, standing about two meters tall with four legs, a humanoid body and mantis-like arms, the symbol of the Heartless stamped onto it's chest, was visible as it appeared from some strange machinery..._

"Gretchen? Honey?" Henry Griffin said as he rushed into the clearing.

"Huh, oh, I'm sorry, I got distracted." Gretchen replied.

"Are you alright? You look a little distraught?" Henry replied, putting a comforting arm around his wife.

"I'm fine honey..." Henry replied.

"Are you sure?" Henry said, "You've been kind of strange lately, I mean weird dreams and..."

"It's just the stress of writing this latest paper, on our dig in Giza..." Gretchen replied. _You wouldn't understand. The strange dreams. The monsters. And that I'm a witch, and I've been one for the past few years..._

Henry didn't want to pry. He wanted to give his wife some space. At the same time he was worried. Gretchen was starting to sound like Ted when he came back from fighting the Intifada in Israel. He decided Gretchen needed her space right now.

"I'll see you at home..." Henry replied.

"Could you please stay here with me?" Gretchen asked.

"Of course." Henry said, as he sat with his wife in the forest clearing...

---

"Looks like even the vaunted _spetsnaz_ didn't survive the Facility and whatever's on the loose around here." Frank commented, as he pointed one claw at the bodily remains of another advance team that tried to break into the facility.

Frank felt himself freeze just then. The new Heartless senses that were infused into his brain were starting to work overtime. He felt his antennae twitch, homing in on the heartbeat of a particular individual...

He tore a supply closet apart with clawed hands and dragged a balding, blond haired, bespectacled fellow.

"What the hell!" Fielder demanded.

"Stewart...we meet again..." Frank said, staring at his former captor.

"Please...don't kill me..." Stewart begged.

"I've no intention of doing that...I'll mutilate you alive first you bastard!!" Frank began.

"Frank, God damn it!" Fielder began, "Don't kill this scumbag...yet."

"You know this facility pretty well," Fielder began, "Maybe you could take us to where the C5 reproduction you're trying to build is. I warn you, if you fuck us over, I'll turn you over to Frank..."

Frank eyed Stewart with a '_fuck us over and I'll pull you apart_' look.

Stewart gulped and said, "Right this way..."

As they moved through the corridors a loud roar could be heard.

"I should warn you, the Prototype is on the loose." Stewart said with an evil smile.

"Prototype for what?" Cover Girl demanded.

"It was genetically engineered from the best features of the stronger Heartless species and some other things..." Stewart replied, "Unfortunately when it was turned loose it couldn't discriminate between friend and foe and it killed most of the facility staff when the Russians broke into the building."

As they broke into the room, which was thankfully intact Frank said, "Looks like I've got some work to do..."

"I'll help." Kitty replied, "I'm good with computers."

"Better than you are at cooking, that's for sure." Pietro quipped.

"HEY!" Kitty replied.

"He pulled a fast one there..." Dash said, "Hi Five."

Pietro went to give the high five, but Dash at the last second moved his hand out of the way, causing the Misfit speedster to fall over.

"Got it working." Frank said, "It'll take about half an hour to warm up..."

"Not for long..." Stewart said, as he grabbed Emily and held her in a chokehold. Cover Girl, Shipwreck, Roadblock and Fielder all turned their weapons on him.

"Try anything funny and I'll snap her neck, I could do it even before you shot me..." Stewart began.

Before Stewart could finish his threat he was lifted, bodily, screaming into the air. Frank grabbed him by his heels with one hand and used his clawed hand to crush Stewart's elbow, causing the man to cry out in pain and release Emily.

"DON'T EVER THREATEN HER YOU BASTARD!!!" Frank shouted as he flung Stewart against the wall.

The man tried to crawl towards the open door only to have the half-Heartless Frank stomp onto his ankle and Achilles tendon.

He kicked Stewart in the ribs repeatedly, savagely, "THIS IS FOR TURNING ME INTO A HEARTLESS! AND THIS ONE'S FOR THREATENING MY FIANCEE!"

Frank lifted Stewart up and threw him against a fuze box. Instantly several hundred volts of electricity surged into Stewart's body and he screamed long and loud as the current tore into him, roasting him alive and leaving nothing but a charred corpse.

"You idiot!!!" Bobby shouted at Frank, "You just destroyed our way home!!!"

Frank felt the anger subside after killing his former captor and realized he had indeed screwed the pooch. He looked at the damaged fuze box and cursed himself.

"We can fix this, I'll need a few spare parts, any of which we can find here in the facility." Frank said as he wrote them down.

"We'll need to secure this room too, leave Kurt and a team to help him out." Helen pointed out.

"I'll go with you guys..." Frank replied.

"No," Fielder said, "You're too valuable, you're the only C5 tech we have."

"Shadowcat can identify the parts we need from your list." Helen replied.

"Alright he's staying, but we also need some other powerful folks to keep Kurt safe as well."

"We need fighters to go with us too." Fielder said.

"I'll stay with the lad, I'm big and well armed enough in case anything goes bad." Roadblock replied.

"I'll stay too, I can freeze the entrances solid before anything comes in." Bobby said.

"And I'll be the key to open it up if you do." Scott remarked.

"Fair enough." Fielder replied.

Cover Girl, Shipwreck, Shadowcat, Dash, Quicksilver, Colossus, and Elastigirl headed into the facility where everyone else stayed to guard the C5 room.

---

"Sir, the Soviets have advanced past the Metroville line of demarkation." a technician shouted from his console.

Syndrome nodded and said, "Very well. Launch the Omnidroids."

Syndrome knew that the Soviets with _spetsnaz _assaults and Tu-22 Backfire bombers had knocked out a good seventy-five percent of all Omnidroid launching facilities in Metroville. He'd planned carefully for it, though. He had hidden Vengeance Weapon facilities in Metroville's most remote locations to launch at the Soviets. They only required one order.

"Fire." Syndrome said, "Initiate protocol Alpha Sierra Lima."

Orders were barked into radio circuits and commanders at several remote facilities launched the first wave of Omnidroids towards the Soviet Union. Fifteen were launched. Five towards frontline locations, strategically important cities which the Soviets had overrun, and ten were launched towards various cities and bases in the Soviet Union.

---

The Soviets detected the Omnidroids as the approached their airspace and scrambled every available interceptor, every single surface to air missile site was now fully manned and ready to launch.

---

The alarms sounded loudly jerking Captain Vassili Ivanovich out of his bunk. He flung his flight suit on and grabbed his survival gear and helmet, racing out to the tarmac towards his Sukhoi Su-15 'Fishpot' Interceptor.

He saw the squadron commander, Colonel Ivan Petrov race to his own aircraft.

He took off, on Petrov's left wing, on the and followed the controller's directing. He looked around and could see every single air defense fighter on the base, a mix of MiG-23, MiG-25, and Su-15 interceptors, launching.

Patrolling the outskirts of the airbase were several MiG-29 'Fulcrum' fighters from the Soviet Air Force.

Within minutes the interceptors had accquired the Omnidroids on their radar scopes and began to lock onto them with long range radar guided R-98M missiles.

"Close and engage!" Colonel Petrov said.

Missiles were fired, and several hit their targets, not causing any significant damage to the Omnidroid.

The Soviet fighters closed in, firing AA-8 Aphid infrared missiles which also struck home in conjunction with several Surface to Air Missiles.

The Omnidroid retaliated, shooting laser blasts and air-to-air missiles at the Soviet fighters. Vassili Ivanovich heard Petrov's last scream as his aircraft was incinerated by a laser blast.

Ivanovich fired another AA-8 missile, seeing it strike home on the sphere's surface. He felt the shockwave of another explosion from a missile destroying another fighter. He checked his instrument panel, the controls sluggish. He tried to fire another missile, this one aimed at the rotating head of the Omnidroid. The missile was jammed.

"Comrades," Ivanovich began, "Aim for the head of the beast! Dos Vidanya Rodina!"

Ivanovich jammed the throttles, afterburners lit up, burning the last of fuel racing past the Omnidoid's defenses and colliding with the plate-like head. The explosion destroyed the head of the Omnidroid and the robot's trajectory began to slew off drastically, spiraling out of control, while secondary explosions inside the bowels ignited fuel, magazines, and lubricating oil. The Heartless and Nobodies in the troop carrier bays were immediately incinerated.

The Omnidroid smashed into a wooded copse several kilometers short of Moscow, in company with another Omnidroid launched at the Russian capital.

Three other Soviet cities, however, were not as fortunate. Kiev, Minsk, and Leningrad were all hit. The Omnidroid's dispensed thousands of Heartless and Nobodies which roved about the city, seeking hearts.

Over Kiev the Nobodies separated from the Heartless, while their lesser counterparts distracted the Soviet garrison of Kiev and wreaked havoc on the civilians, the Nobodies headed for the Hydroelectric Power station. They knew it would knock out a vast majority of the electrical power for the Ukraine sector.

The few facility guards, many of them reservists called back into active duty after many of the front line combat units from the garrison were sent to Metroville.

Gunfire echoed, raggedly through the corridors as the Soviet guards tried to fight off the Nobodies. It was unsuccessful and the Nobodies succeeded in destroying the facility and electricity throughout the Ukraine sector was promptly lost.

---

In retaliation, the Soviets launched seven ballistic missiles and a dozen TU-22M Backfire Bombers loaded with tactical nuclear devices towards Metroville, well west of their forward positions.

The ICBMs were launched towards the now-revealed Omnidroid launch facilities while the Backfires targeted Metroville's larger industrial cities that produced the Omnidroids.

---

"Oh God..." Bob Parr said, heart skipping several beat.

"It's true, the Soviets went nuclear less than an hour ago." Bluey Truscott began.

"Wh-what was hit? Where did they hit?" Parr asked.

"Several remote sites, according to ACME intelligence, mainly hidden Omnidroid facilities _spetsnaz _was unable to hit." Truscott said, "Three major cities were hit. Countysburg, Palisville, and Northtown were hit by TU-22M Backfires armed with tactical nuclear weapons. The Soviets exercised surprisingly great amounts of restraint."

"Restraint? RESTRAINT? THE DAMNED RUSSKIES LAUNCHED NUCLEAR DEVICES AND YOUR ACME IDIOTS CAN'T LOCATE MY FAMILY AND YOU CALL THAT RESTRAINT!" Bob shouted.

"For God's sake," Truscott said, "Get a handle on yourself. The Soviet nuclear arsenal is considerably larger than the weapons they launched at Metroville. Nineteen warheads is certainly restraint!"

"Any success on locating the Parr family?" Scarlett said as she walked into the room.

Truscott shook his head. "No. But we've got disturbing news from the Parr's world. The Soviets have gone nuclear."

"The Soviet premier issued an address." Marian MacClanough said as she came into the room, "Basically he said that for every Omnidroid Syndrome launches at the USSR, a nuclear device will be fired into Metroville."

"How many more crisis' are we going to have now?" Low Light asked.

"At least one more than we can deal with." Spirit replied.

Scarlett gently put a comforting hand on the big Indian's shoulder, knowing he worried about Lance, who was currently trapped on the Parr's world.

Dial Tone came racing into the room just then, "There's been a shooting in San Francisco, an ACME operative just got compromised."

"What? Who?" Papa Louie, the ACME team leader, demanded.

"Aron Munro." Dial Tone said.

"What happened?" Papa Louie asked...

---

Fifteen minutes before the conversation, Aron Munro was having lunch with Jana Riley.

"I'm glad you were able to make it." Jana smiled, her red hair framing her lovely face.

Aron couldn't help but smile, despite all the grim news he had of FOH groups being more and more active in the area.

He could recognize his lover was worried. "What's going on?"

"Marcus(1), there's something I need to tell you..." Jana said, and lowered her voice, "I've been doing some work regarding the recent FOH attacks on mutants here in San Francisco...Yesterday when me and Belinda Carver revisited the crime scene where one mutant had been attacked I photographed an FOH gang member spray-painting some anti-mutant message. I came into work this morning and this morning I received a death threat."

"It's probably blustering." Aron replied with a confidence he didn't feel.

"You think so?" Jana replied.

_I'm definitely patrolling near her apartment tonight._ Aron thought. _If some sonofabitch thinks he can harm her, I'll kill him..._

Two teenaged punks were staring at them, a bit too intensely. Aron felt the hairs on the back of his neck rising. They were talking amongst themselves, too far away to hear.

"Marcus?" Jana said, using his alias for this assignment.

The two young toughs were headed straight for their table, one had a hand in his pocket, and another reached under his jacket.

Aron was up before anyone had an instance to react. He shoved Jana bodily out of her seat before drawing the 9mm H&K USP from the covert holster under his jersey. "Get down on the ground! Keep your hands where I can see them!" Aron demanded.

Both men drew guns and Aron promptly started shooting. The first thug, the burlier of the two was hit four times in the chest with 9mm fire. Aron whirled around and shot the other thug three times and both staggered back. He fired two head shots at each man before dropping the clip and reloading another round, heading over to the bodies and kicking each one in the groin to determine death.

Jana Riley hit the ground just as she saw guns in the hands of the two young tough men that approached their table. It was then she saw the normally kind, and gentlemanly Marcus Culp gun them down with rapid streams of flying lead.

Just then a Japanese man with a shaved head ran into the restaurant, carrying a gun and a badge, "ACME Detective Agency..."

Jan Shimoda said, "What the hell was that, Aron?"

"Bad guys were after her. I had to keep her safe." Aron replied.

"Well you just compromised our operation by shooting two civilians. We're gonna have a lot of explaining to do."

Jana rubbed her sore elbow and winced, she'd landed on it pretty hard when Marcus shoved her out of the way of the bad guys, his bulk in the way. She stood up shakily but didn't see the Japanese man or Marcus. It was shortly thereafter that the police arrived.

---

Fielder took down the door with a shotgun blast and kicked it open. Shipwreck and Cover Girl cleared the room as Dash and Pietro ran to check the far corners. "All clear!"

Everyone else piled into the storeroom as Kitty directed Dash and Pietro to gather the parts they needed.

"Guys, you'd better make this fast..." Shipwreck grunted as the sound of the Prototype lumbering through the halls, searching for things to kill could be heard.

"We need a few more parts...I need about five minutes to..." Kitty began.

"We don't have five minutes!" Shipwreck said as the Prototype lumbered into view. He aimed his Desert Eagles at it and fired. The Prototype staggered back a pace but roared and leapt into the air, shoving Shipwreck aside. Cover Girl opened fire with her M-16, switching from single fire to burst, meaning she fired three shots for every squeeze of the trigger.

She might as well have been using a pea shooter. The Prototype shoved Cover Girl into the nearest wall and she saw stars.

"Hey hey hey hey Creep! Can't catch me! Can't catch me!!! A nice fast tasty morsel!!!" Pietro said, running around, as the Prototype chased him around the room.

Shipwreck got back up and started shooting the Prototype as he raced towards Cover Girl.

"Are you alright?" Shipwreck asked.

Cover Girl winced and held her sides as she tried to stand and fell. Shipwreck caught her in time and supported her on one arm, helping her limp away.

Colossus tackled the Prototype in armored form. "Go! Get out of here! Davai!!!"

Colossus hit the Prototype with his armored fists repeatedly as the Prototype lifted him into the air and threw him through the concrete wall.

Dazed Colossus stood up, watching the others getting an injured Cover Girl and the spare parts they needed out of the way. "Dos Vidanya!" Colossus said as he drop kicked the Prototype and ran out of the room.

---

"Frank, make those repairs pronto!" Shipwreck said as he gently laid Cover Girl beside Kurt.

"I'll help." Kitty replied, "Where's Piotr?"

"Right here." Piotr said.

"And I thought the Prototype had chewed you up and spit you out." Lance remarked.

"Where's the Prototype?" Shipwreck asked.

"I knocked it out and ran off. It should be out for a while, I hit it pretty hard." Colossus replied.

"There, one more circuit. Sadly the corridor's only gonna be wide enough for a person at a time. I've type in the coordinates for your world, all we have to do is wait for half an hour and..." Frank began.

The loud roar of the Prototype could be heard.

"I guess you didn't hit him as hard as you thought, eh?" Lance said, "Time to rock it's world and..."

"No Lance, if you use your powers you might damage the chamber..." Kitty said.

Scott zapped the Prototype with a laser blast which sent the creature reeling a few steps, but it simply shook of the damage and kept heading towards the group, its wounds closing.

Roadblock added his own weapon to the fire, hitting the creature with almost half a drum of ammunition from his SAW.

The Prototype leapt into the air, dodging more gunfire and then closed the gap. Frank rushed at the creature and attacked it.

As Frank attacked the monster the C-5 corridor to the Pit began to open.

"Go! Come on!" Frank shouted as he grunted with exertion.

Shipwreck helped Kurt and Cover Girl through first and one by one the team made it through until the other two ACME operatives remained.

"You first." Alan Fielder said, indicating Emily.

"We have to help Frank." Emily said.

At first it had seemed Frank would defeat the Prototype, but unfortunately he was losing ground.

"We've got to destroy the C-5, unless you want that Prototype to get out of this Facility!" Fielder replied.

The Prototype was already beating up on Frank. Through battered lips and a swollen eye, his human eye was swollen, his yellow beady Heartless eye was still open, "Go...get out of here..."

"Frank..." Emily said, near tears.

"In you go." Fielder said, pushing her through.

Fielder tossed a thermite grenade at the C-5 equipment before getting through the corridor himself.

Frank's last act after seeing the C-5 explode was to let out a satisfied smile as the Prototype killed him.

---

"How are you holding up?" Shipwreck asked Cover Girl.

"I've felt better." she winced.

An hour had elapsed since they'd escaped from Facility Kronos. In another corner of the infirmary, Bob Parr was holding onto his wife and son as they were checked out by Bree and Lifeline. He shared the sobering news, that the Soviets had gone nuclear.

Alan Fielder had just taken another C-5 Corridor with Emily Kinnian back to their world. Emily had a tissue in her hand, her face red from crying.

"It just brings it home, doesn't it, just how much damage Syndrome's done." Cover Girl said, "I just get the feeling it's gonna get worse before it gets better. I mean, the team at Facility Kronos, the attack on Bandar Abbas..."

"But we can't just give up hope. If we do..." Shipwreck said.

"I know, it just seems like for every ally we gain, we get two enemies..." Cover Girl replied.

---

"The Soviets went nuclear on Metroville, a limited retaliation. Their Premier's address was saying that for every Omnidroid launched, they will fire a nuclear device..." Mirage began.

"More hearts to feed to the Heartless and the Organization. Good. That should keep the Organization satisfied for the time being while we plan our assault on the Halliwell Manor." Syndrome began.

"And we've got almost all of this world on the alert. As you know all the world's militaries are on alert after we fired the Omnidroid at Iran." Mirage said.

"Yes, those Jugglers serve their purpose." Syndrome replied, "And apparently ACME's been trying to gather intelligence on our operation. There were those three agents at Facility Kronos. One was killed and two others escaped and let's not forget that one of them on this world got into a shooting match with some of our FOH pawns."

"Tell our allies to increase their operations, keep G.I. Joe, the Misfits, and X-men stretched thin before we hit the Halliwells unexpectedly..." Syndrome began.

---

"Jana Riley?" a voice said.

Jana looked up from her desk to see a youthful looking, dark haired man wearing jeans, a sweater and a leather flight jacket.

"Agent Brody, Department of Homeland Security. I understand you were involved in an attack by the Friends of Humanity?" Brody said.

"Yes." Jana replied.

"And your boyfriend was involved?" Brody said, "If my accounts are right he pulled a USP 9mm and gunned down both terrorists. Marcus Culp was his name, a surveyor by trade?"

"Yeah. Listen, why are you involved?"

"I've been following the happenings in San Francisco for quite some time now." Agent Brody replied, "And I'd like to ask Marcus a few questions. He doesn't seem to be answering his cell or home phone."

"I've been trying to get a hold of him all day." Jana replied.

"Well, if you are able to get a hold of him, here's my contact information." Brody said, as he walked out of the office, after giving Jana his card.

---

END

1. See Relocated, Chapter 6 in the Incredibles section. Marcus is Aron's alias.


End file.
